England are the new T20 World Cup champions after they beat Pakistan in a tense final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Jos Buttler’s side were brilliant with the ball to restrict Pakistan to 137-8, Sam Curran taking 3-12 and Adil Rashid with 2-22.
England were wobbling in the middle overs after slipping to 85-4 but Ben Stokes showed composure and class to take his side to victory with six balls remaining.
Stokes, who was the hero in the 2019 World Cup final, finished 52 not out as England secured a five-wicket win to become T20 champions for the second time.
England become the first team to hold both the T20 and 50-over World Cup trophies, while Pakistan fall narrowly short of a second T20 title in a repeat of the 1992 final.
The nerves were palpable in the early stages as Stokes started proceedings with a no-ball and a wide, while Mohammed Rizwan was relieved to see a run-out attempt miss the stumps.
Two uneventful overs followed before Rizwan deposited Chris Woakes into the stands for the first maximum of the match.
England made their first breakthrough in the fifth over as the impressive Curran forced Rizwan to play on, Pakistan reaching 39-1 at the end of the powerplay.
Rashid found form at the right time in Australia and made an instant impact here, dismissing Muhammad Haris with the first ball of his spell.
Pakistan began to use the massive Melbourne outfield to scamper twos but they could only stutter to 68-2 at the halfway stage.
The next over threatened to change the momentum as Liam Livingstone went for 16, but Rashid pulled it back with a fantastic wicket maiden as Pakistan captain Babar Azam departed.
When Stokes nicked off Iftikhar Ahmed in the next over, England were well on top and Pakistan glad to see the back of Rashid, who finished a superb spell with figures of 2-22.
Pakistan tried to fightback through Shan Masood and Shadab Khan, the former rotating the strike well before he departed for 38 off 28, Curran taking another big wicket.
The innings began to fall apart as Shadab holed out and Curran – who went for just 12 from his four overs – picked up his third of the evening as Mohammad Nawaz suffered the same fate.
England were brilliant at the death, restricting Pakistan to just 19 from the final four overs as they stumbled to 137-8.
The powerplay was always going to have a big say on the outcome of the match and Shaheen Afridi knocked over Alex Hales with the final ball of the first over.
Buttler looked in fine form, though, clipping and driving boundaries as England made a quick start.
Pakistan pegged the 2010 champions back by dismissing Phil Salt and were celebrating the huge scalp of Buttler in the sixth over, Haris Rauf doing the damage.
England were just about in front at the end of the powerplay as they moved to 49-3, and the experienced Stokes and inexperienced Harry Brook consolidated to take the equation to 61 from 60 at the halfway stage.
Pakistan began to fightback after drinks; the next three overs went for just 10 runs and Harry Brook fell for an edgy 20 off 23.
England’s struggles continued and the run-rate climbed, although a rare boundary from Stokes left them needing 41 from 30 balls.
Afridi injured his knee while completing the catch to dismiss Brook and had to hobble off during his final over, his tournament coming to a crushing end. – Metro
