The whole cricket fraternity heaped praise on Pakistan for the fight back despite losing to England in the grand final of the T20 World Cup 2022 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday.
All-rounder Ben Stokes held his nerves strong to cruise England to their second T20 World Cup victory as they defeat Pakistan by five wickets in the final, here at MCG on Sunday.
Set to chase 138, England completed the tricky run chase in 19 overs despite a strong attack put up by the Pakistan bowling department.
Opting to field first, England restricted Pakistan to a modest 137 runs before chasing down the target in 19 overs to become the champions of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
Sam Curran and Adil Rashid starred with the ball, while Ben Stokes scored a half-century to lead the Poms to victory and lift the trophy.
Meanwhile, former as well as current cricketers backed the green shirts and lauded the fight back despite losing in the final.
Their reactions were:
England are the first men’s team to hold the ODI and T20 World Cup titles at the same time.
Ben Stokes scored an unbeaten 52 runs in 49 balls to play a key role in his side’s victory.
Moeen Ali played a cameo of 19 runs in 12 balls to provide quick runs at the back end of the run-chase.
Meanwhile, skipper Jos Buttler scored 26 runs in 17 balls at top of the order.
Pakistan suffered a major blow towards the end of the run-chase as star pacer Shaheen Afridi walked off the field due to a knee injury. The lanky pacer could only bowl 2.1 overs during the innings.