Afridi niggle, batting slow-down at death hurt Pakistan in title clash
\nNews Agency
\nMELBOURNE
\nBen Stokes and Sam Curran starred as England edged Pakistan by five wickets to win the Twenty20 World Cup on Sunday and become the sport\u2019s first dual white-ball champions, holding both the 50 and 20-over titles.
\nJos Buttler\u2019s side held Pakistan to 137-8 in front of a partisan 80,462 fans at a heaving Melbourne Cricket Ground, with player-of-the-match Curran bagging 3-12 and Adil Rashid chipping with 2-22.
\nIn reply, England slumped to 49-3 in the sixth over as they struggled to get any momentum against a fiery pace attack, with boundaries hard to come by.
\nBut Stokes (52 not out) and Moeen Ali (19) used their experience and cool heads to guide England to 138-5 with six balls to spare, climaxing a riveting tournament that spanned 45 games over nearly a month.
\nThe victory added to the 50-over title England won in 2019, building on the legacy of former captain Eoin Morgan, who retired this year after transforming the team into a white-ball juggernaut.
\nIt was England\u2019s second T20 crown after tasting success in 2010, joining the West Indies as the only two-time winners since the tournament\u2019s inception in 2007.
\nThe game was billed as a showdown between Pakistan\u2019s attack and England\u2019s top order, and Shaheen Afridi bowled danger man Alex Hales in the first over of the run chase.
\nBut that only fired up Buttler who smashed two boundaries off Naseem Shah.
\nPhil Salt, playing in place of the injured Dawid Malan, didn\u2019t last, making just 10 before pulling Haris Rauf to Iftikhar Ahmed
\nThe ball was swinging and seaming and the menacing Rauf claimed the key wicket of Buttler just as he was getting in, edging to wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan on 26 off 17 balls.
\nThe runs dried up and Harry Brook needed treatment for a blow to his elbow but he soldiered on as they reached 77-3 at the halfway point of the innings, compared to Pakistan\u2019s 68-2.
\nBrook came undone on 20 against the spin of Shadab Khan, holing out to Afridi as he tried to get the scoreboard moving.
\nIt came down to needing 41 runs off the final five overs.
\nStokes relieved the pressure with a four and a six off Ahmed and there was no stopping them with the England all-rounder hitting the winning runs.
\nRashid strikes
\nWith forecast rain staying away, England produced disciplined and economical bowling to stymie 2009 champions Pakistan, with Shan Masood\u2019s 38 the top score.
\nStokes was given the new ball after England won the toss and chose to field with Pakistan lucky to survive the over intact as opener Rizwan was almost run out going for a risky single.
\nRizwan and Babar Azam shared a century partnership in their semi-final against New Zealand, but another big stand wasn\u2019t to be, with Rizwan dragging a delivery from Curran on to his stumps on 15.
\nThe introduction of Rashid soon after the six-over powerplay reaped an immediate reward with Mohammad Haris (8) attacking him on his first ball only to sky a simple catch to Stokes.
\nMasood began swinging the bat in the second half of the innings, hitting a four and six off Liam Livingstone.
\nBut once again Rashid got the breakthrough, pulling off a diving catch from his own bowling to claim the vital wicket of Azam, whose 32 came off 28 balls.
\nAhmed only lasted six balls before Masood and Shadab Khan (20) fell in the space of two runs as Curran and Chris Jordan kept the lid on any hope Pakistan had of a late flurry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Afridi niggle, batting slow-down at death hurt Pakistan in title clash News Agency MELBOURNE Ben Stokes and Sam Curran starred as England edged Pakistan by five wickets to win the Twenty20 World Cup on Sunday and become the sport\u2019s first dual white-ball champions, holding both the 50 and 20-over titles. Jos Buttler\u2019s side held Pakistan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295071,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-295056","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n