Babar Azam-led Pakistan cricket team fell short of their dream of becoming T20 world champions as Jos Buttler’s England defeated them in an entertaining T20 World Cup 2022 final at the MCG on Sunday, November 13, 2022.
Pakistani bowlers did their best to defend a small total of 137/8 after they had been asked to bat first after Buttler won the toss. Shan Masood top-scored with 38 runs, while Babar Azam made 32 runs. Sam Curran picked 3/12 and Adil Rashid took two wickets.
In reply, though Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf gave England early jolts, Jos Buttler (26), Harry Brook (20), Moeen Ali (19) and in the end, Ben Stokes with 52* took England home with 5 wickets in hand and one over to spare.
Ahead of the final, there was a lot of activity on social media after India had lost to England in the semis as former Pakistani cricketers and even Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif took digs at the Men in Blue side.
“So, this Sunday, it’s: 152/0 vs 170/0 #T20WorldCup," Sharif had tweeted pertaining to India's two 10-wicket losses in recent T20 World Cups.
In the aftermath, former India cricketer Irfan Pathan took to Twitter and congratulated England for their ‘graceful’ win. This was in relation to his post earlier when he had told neighbors Pakistan that losses and wins keep coming and going, but grace was not their cup of tea.
On the other hand, Mohammad Shami also trolled former Pakistani pacer Shoaib Akhtar who posted a broken heart emoji after Babar Azam and co.’s defeat. Akhtar had said that India didn’t even deserve to make it into the finals and that Pakistan was the rightful victors.
Taking a dig at Akhtar, Shami quoted his broken heart emoji and posted: “Sorry brother. It’s call karma”
