England won the T20 World Cup and have become double world champions. Jos Buttler’s side beat Pakistan by five wickets in a thrilling final in Melbourne. They were chasing 138 in front of a raucous Pakistan-supporting crowd and fell to 45-3 and 84-4 amid electric fast bowling. But Ben Stokes wrote himself further into the folklore of English cricket by finishing on 52 not out to guide his team to victory. Gulf News cricket experts Shyam, Satish and Ashfaq discuss the match…
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome to Golf News Straight Back.
00:08Right then, we started with 16 teams at the T20 World Cup.
00:12They were whittled down to two and it was England who faced Pakistan in the final today.
00:17Both sides were looking to win the competition for the second time and it is England who
00:23have been crowned champions of the T20 World Cup.
00:26They beat Pakistan by five wickets.
00:29Commiserations, Ash, what went wrong for your team today?
00:32Well, to be very frank, Pakistan, it was not Pakistan's day.
00:38They were out of luck.
00:40If you see from the very beginning, our middle order, they started well, but middle order
00:47collapsed and the superb discipline and bowling also put them in trouble.
00:52They were short of at least 20 to 30 runs.
00:56And the big blow comes when Pakistan was in a good position and the death over for England
01:01was batting when Shaheen Afridi got injured and couldn't complete his two overs.
01:06That made a big difference and in that particular over, England changed the game when they turned
01:09the table and the game went out of hand for Pakistan.
01:13Otherwise, it would have been a nice last ball.
01:17Yeah, I think had Afridi been able to have bowled his last two overs, it would have been
01:22a far closer finish.
01:23Yes.
01:24Yeah, Ben Stokes and Moin Ali hit a few boundaries and they sealed the win there.
01:30But Shaam, as had been mentioned countless times in the build up to the game, it was
01:35a rematch of that 92 final where Pakistan won on the same ground, incidentally.
01:41But did England deserve to win today?
01:43Absolutely.
01:44They did.
01:45They have been a champion inside throughout the tournament.
01:48And today, they have reaffirmed their credentials because they ground out a hard-fought win.
01:56Simply because if you look at, it was billed as Pakistan's bowling against England's batting.
02:04Because those days are powerhouses in bowling and batting.
02:09But what interestingly, the interesting twist here was the way England bowled.
02:13England bowled out Pakistan for 137.
02:16I didn't see that coming, seriously.
02:18Because especially here, Adil Rashid's spell of two overs for 22 and that Curran's superb
02:25bowling, actually that tilted the match.
02:29And actually, Pakistan finished something like 20 runs short.
02:34So with 137, it was a very tough ask to stop England, especially with the kind of batting
02:40they have.
02:42And full credit to Pakistan for having made a match out of it.
02:45But even then, even with Afridi there, I think Pakistan would have won.
02:51But it would have gone down to the wire.
02:52It would have gone down to the last over.
02:54Because so long as Ben Stokes was there, an England win was never in doubt.
03:00Satish, England have now become the first team to hold the 50 overs and 20 over titles
03:06at the same time.
03:08Just how good is this England team right now?
03:10And how highly do you rate them?
03:12Oh, Imran, they are probably the best.
03:16There's nothing, no words to say that.
03:17And the turnaround they did after losing to Bangladesh in 2015.
03:23And in seven years, they are champions of the white ball cricket.
03:26They are the kings of white ball cricket.
03:28That says a lot about their total, the way they approach, their complete planning and
03:34execution, and the way they change their approach.
03:37And they created the personal towards winning the World Cup.
03:42And it's not just one World Cup, they won two World Cups now in succession, the 20-over
03:49cricket as well as the 2-over cricket.
03:51This is brilliant stuff.
03:53And I think, credit to Ben Stokes, because in both our games, he is the guy who anchored
03:59the victory.
04:00But all said and done, it was a complete, England team management and the board, everybody
04:06needs to be given credit to this wonderful effort because of the way they planned well
04:11in advance to achieve this.
04:13Yeah, they deserved it.
04:16But Ash, Pakistan was slow in the power play.
04:19I think we can say throughout the tournament, they never really got going in that power
04:23play.
04:24And today, they only scored 39.
04:25I mean, what has gone wrong for them with the bat?
04:28I don't know.
04:29I think England bowling was very good.
04:32And this has been a problem.
04:34And many people told Babar Azam, and the analysts also say that Babar Azam should come one down.
04:41Let Harris open the inning, because he's a good opener.
04:43Let Harris open the inning with Rizwan.
04:45At least on one end, Harris can hit hard, he can score fast.
04:51Now, both Rizwan and Babar play cautiously.
04:55And then in between, Rizwan got out and then put Harris under immense pressure.
05:00So it was not an ideal start for Pakistan.
05:03But again, Babar stayed on the wicket, like 10 overs or something like this.
05:09And then he got out cheaply, just on 32 runs.
05:13And then Harris tried to accelerate the inning, he got out as well.
05:18Boundary was big, and they couldn't make the game plan.
05:23You see, you have 82-83 meter boundary.
05:26Harris was caught at 69 meters, like Nawaz was caught at 71 meters.
05:33So they should plan their shots when they're playing in the big ground, they have to run
05:38to make, they can't hit sixes on such ground.
05:41So there, you see Sam Coren, he trapped the left-handers on a bigger boundary.
05:47He trapped them there, Nawaz, and other people also, Shaan Masood also.
05:53So they did very well.
05:56Pakistan's batting completely collapsed, especially after 14-15 hours.
06:01I mean, they were like a patch of good batting between 11th over and 14th over.
06:06Then after that, they couldn't hold back.
06:10So I would say, as Shaan said, we didn't see it coming.
06:14We thought Pakistan will put up a good total, and then there'll be a fight between Pakistan
06:19bowlers and England batters.
06:22But still, I would say hats off to Shaheen Afridi, he stuck in the first over, I mean,
06:27and put pressure, and Haris Rao was superb today.
06:31Look at Naseem Shah, how unlucky was he, if you watch the match, the kind of swing bowling
06:36he did today, I haven't seen for a long time, both left-handers and right-handers, he was
06:40so unlucky, he couldn't get the wicket.
06:44And the worst bad luck was Afridi's injury.
06:50As Shaan said, we were short of at least 20-30 runs, but again, the best team won.
06:55These are all excuses and match analysis, but England put their heart into the match.
07:01So did Pakistan, but England turned out to be a stronger team.
07:05Shaan, Adil Rashid finished with a really good 2 for 22 from his four overs, but the
07:11key wicket that he took was Barbarazam, as Ashfaq just mentioned.
07:14He was going really well, he was doing pretty well, he got 32.
07:18Just as he was getting going, to lose his wicket, that was a big moment in the game,
07:22wasn't it?
07:23For England.
07:24It sure was.
07:25See, Barbarazam was not at his best, he was slowly getting into the stride.
07:31But more than anything, Barbarazam is a big wicket, he's the captain, he's the one who
07:36anchors the chase.
07:38So long as Barbarazam is at the crease, Pakistan are calm, they know they can do it.
07:43But when you take him out, then it's almost like you deflate the team completely, actually,
07:48you win the psychological battle.
07:49That's precisely what Adil Rashid did.
07:52In fact, Adil Rashid got two big wickets today.
07:56He got Mohamed Harris, who…
07:58Harris, okay.
07:59Yeah.
08:00Mohamed Harris, if he had got going, maybe the tempo would have been different.
08:07So, he got both of them out, and I think he was the one who set up the Pakistan collapse.
08:15Absolutely.
08:16But just to add a charm, it looks like Adil Rashid has been trapping Barbarazam with his
08:24googly.
08:25Yeah.
08:26Yeah, it was one of the match-ups.
08:27One of the match-ups, yes.
08:28One of the match-ups.
08:29And again, he got a googly which Barbarazam went for a cut, and then realised the ball
08:34is coming into him, and then he didn't have the space to play that shot.
08:38Yeah, he was already into the shot.
08:40Yeah.
08:41Satish, how good was Sam Curran today?
08:44He took three for 12 in a World Cup final, no less.
08:47That's a really good performance from him, isn't it?
08:49Imran, Sam Curran has been brilliant right through.
08:53Even if you look at the semis against India, Curran or English fast bowlers, they never
08:59gave any room to the Indian batter.
09:02That's exactly the place where they throttle the opponent.
09:05Almost in the first 10 overs, India were something like 59 for 3 or something like that.
09:1263 for 2.
09:14Same with Pakistan today.
09:1668 for 2.
09:1865 for 3 or 2, something like that.
09:20So, that's the place where they…
09:21And he has played a crucial role in keeping the rival teams under check.
09:26And he has now become a different bowler.
09:29He uses his space, he uses his angles, the cutters, the wobbles.
09:34He is bowling a different variety.
09:37And the Australian wicket really helped him as well.
09:40Because obviously, it's a big bowler's delight.
09:42Australia is a big bowler's delight.
09:43So, it worked in his favour as well.
09:46And speaking of bowlers, Ash, Nassim Shah's 4 overs got him figures of 0 for 30.
09:53But you probably won't see a better 4 over spell with no wickets.
09:57How unlucky was he today?
09:59He was very unlucky.
10:01I think he bowled at least in 4 overs more than 12 dots.
10:08He was just missing the bat.
10:12Like micro millimetres.
10:15And there were a couple of good appeals as well.
10:17And Ben Stokes, he couldn't do anything.
10:22He was laughing, what's happening?
10:24Why he couldn't play him?
10:26So, a poor guy, unlucky.
10:29And he got also some edge shot which went to the boundary as well.
10:34But he did well.
10:35But Pakistan, overall, I think Mohammed Waseem, Haris.
10:40Mohammed Waseem was a bit okay.
10:42But Haris put his heart in the game today.
10:45He was brilliant.
10:46And the way he bowled and took wickets, he was absolutely stunning.
10:51And fielded.
10:52And fielded as well, yes.
10:54So, that's about it.
10:57Pakistan bowler did their best.
10:58But they didn't have much to defend.
11:00And just to add to what Ashfaq has said.
11:03Nazeem Shah, in the first 2 overs of his spell, he gave away 25 runs.
11:06And that was before the 10 overs mark.
11:09After the 10 overs mark, he came back and bowled his heart out.
11:12And he bowled so well.
11:14It was like one of those Akrams.
11:16The spell which he bowled in the final in 1992.
11:19The ball was swinging.
11:21He bowled at a different level.
11:23And gave away only 5 runs in the next 2 overs.
11:27That's where he put the match back in favour of Pakistan.
11:30I think guys, we have to have a word on Ben Stokes.
11:33He got another half century today.
11:35He was really impressive.
11:37He kept his cool head when the pressure situation was on.
11:40Shyam, how impressed were you with Stokes again today?
11:44I call him England's cricket superman.
11:47Simply because whenever there is a problem, he turns up and he rescues them.
11:51This is what happened in the 50-over World Cup when he took them to victory.
11:57And here is another instance of him steering them to victory.
12:01And both the times, England were in trouble.
12:03And today, when he came in, England were in serious trouble.
12:06And after Butler left, it was entirely on Stokes' shoulders.
12:10See, England might boast of a batting line-up running down to number 11.
12:14But this is an untested batting line-up.
12:17Because they have not had much opportunities to bat here.
12:19And whenever they got the opportunities, they didn't do well either.
12:23In fact, there was almost a small choke against Sri Lanka, if you remember.
12:27That time also, it was Stokes' steady hand who steered them home.
12:32So, Stokes was very, very critical to England's fortunes.
12:36I mean, at least white ball cricket, he is their superman.
12:39And he just showed how invaluable he is to the English side.
12:43Invaluable.
12:44This is Stokes' first half century in T20.
12:47Yeah.
12:48What a time to get it.
12:49What a time to get it.
12:50What a time to get it.
12:51Yeah.
12:52Okay.
12:53So, guys.
12:54After a month of…
12:55After…
12:56Yes, great match, Ash.
12:57Commiserations.
12:58After a month of action-packed cricket and 45 games, the T20 World Cup has come to an end.
13:03England are the champions.
13:04Unlucky to Pakistan, they tried their best.
13:07That's all from us.
13:08Please head to gulfnews.com for all the latest news and reviews.
13:11And of course, check us out on our social media channels.
13:13Thanks to my guests.
13:14And we will see you all next time.
13:17Thanks for watching.