Pakistan suffered a heartbreaking five-wicket defeat at the hands of England in the T20 World Cup 2022 final at MCG on Sunday (November 13).
Defending the paltry total of 137, Pakistani bowlers tried their heart out to take the game deep but England rode on Ben Stokes’ unbeaten 52 off 49 balls to get over the finishing line with one over to spare.
After the game, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam admitted that his side was 20 runs short and pace spearhead Shaheen Afridi's injury "put them off".
See Also: Team India congratulate England on winning the title by defeating Pakistan in final
"Congratulations to England, they deserve to be champions and fought well. We felt like home here, got great support at every venue. Thanks for your support. Yes, we lost the first two games but how we came in the last four games was incredible," said Babar in the post-match presentation.
"I just told the boys to play our natural game, but we fell 20 runs short and the boys fought well with the ball. Our bowling is one of the best attacks in the world. Unfortunately, Shaheen's injury put us off, but that is part of the game," he added.
During the 13th over of England’s innings, Shaheen seemingly injured his knee after taking Harry Brook's catch. After spending some time with the physio, the left-arm pacer returned to the field and tried to bowl but could not continue. He could bowl only 2.1 overs out of his four overs.
Here’s the video:
Coming to the match, England were reduced to 45/3 in 5.3 overs while chasing the target of 138. However, a 48-run stand between Stokes and Moeen Ali (19) swung the game in England's favour and they eventually became the second team after West Indies to clinch the T20 World Cup title twice.
Haris Rauf was the stand-out bowler for Pakistan, claiming a couple of wickets by conceding 23 runs in his four overs.
