England have won the T20 World Cup final over Pakistan and the hero of the show, Ben Stokes heaped praise on the bowlers after the win on Sunday in Melbourne. The England bowlers, led by Sam Curran and Adil Rashid, did exceptionally well as they restricted the Pakistani batters to a below-par.
Pakistan could only manage 137 runs in their allotted 20 overs with just 16 coming off the last 24 balls. In reply, England suffered an early hiccup as they lost Alex Hales for a mere 1 by Shaheen Shah Afridi. Later, Jos Buttler steadied the ship for his side before Pakistan bounced back into the game as well.
However, an injury to Shaheen Afridi was the turning point in the game as Ben Stokes made sure that there were no further hiccups in the chase as he took the team home with a stable 52 off 49 balls as well.
Speaking after the match, the veteran all-rounder said, “In finals, especially chasing, you forgot all the hard work that came first. To restrict them to 130, the bowlers have to take a lot of credit. With Ireland being so early in the competition, we had to address it, we can’t carry baggage in tournaments. The best teams take it on the chin, and move onto the next challenge. A pretty good evening.”
Sam Curran believes Ben Stokes should win the PoTM
Meanwhile, Sam Curran’s steller show earned him not only the Player of the Match award but also Player of the Series. The youngster was right on the money throughout the series.
After the win, he said, “I don’t think I should be getting this, I think the way Ben Stokes played there, to get a fifty in a final and he does it so many times for us, he should get this (PoTM). We are going to enjoy this occasion and it is very special. Big square boundaries, so I knew my into-the-wicket type bowling would work and try to make them hit square of the wicket. We felt the wicket was not as good as we thought it would be. It was nipping around everywhere and it was challenge to chase. I go into the wicket with my slower balls and try to keep the batsmen guessing.”
Get the latest cricket news here, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram for more such updates.
