Two teams ascended onto the legendary Melbourne Cricket Ground for the 2022 T20 cricket world cup final this week. Passion was poured out onto the pitch on Sunday as both teams attempted to bring home the trophy. The first team, Pakistan was successfully able to qualify for the finals round despite early slumps against India and Zimbabwe. Thanks to the Netherlands beating South Africa in a stunning upset in the final round of the group stage, Pakistan was put into the semi-final match and were able to edge out against New Zealand to make grands. Our 2nd team, England, were on a hot streak this competition, only losing one game in their group stage to Ireland due to a rain delay. England would qualify for finals where they would meet in the semi-final match to play India. In dominant fashion, England would thrash India with 4 overs to spare. With the teams ready, it’s time to begin the final match of this year’s T20 World Cup. 

 Both teams deploy with all-star talent from this year’s competition; Pakistan’s Shaheen Afridi has been masterfully consistent with the white ball in hand, posting excellent bowling figures to be easily a top 5 bowler this year in the T20 format. With the bat for Pakistan is Muhammed Rizwan. Whilst not being considered a standout star this tournament, Rizwan has been successfully able to help lift his team the extra mile over the run rate being quintessential in their victory over New Zealand, posting a score of 57.  

 On the side of the 3 lions hoisting his bat into the air is wicket keeper Jos Buttler, posting 225 runs in the tournament (4th in the entire tournament) and being instrumental in their semi-final thrashing against India scoring 80. But England’s stand out star this tournament would be bowler Sam Curran. Posting 13 wickets in the tournament second only to Sri Lankas Wanindu Hasaranga, having the best bowling figures of the tournament and having the only 5 wicket game, Curran has shown his worth in the three lions’ squad and looked poised to show his worth in the grand final match.  

 With that, the game has begun. Pakistan was in to bat first, and the England defence made moves against the Pakistan squad. Star batter Muhammed Rizwan was sniped for 15 after being bowled out by Curran. Pakistan captain, Babar Azam, was left to pick up the pieces with him and Shan Masood creating runs for Pakistan as their batting comrades were being torn to shreds by Curran and England bowling, with Azam scoring 32 and Masood scoring 38. 20 overs down and Pakistan are sent to bowl with a score of 8/137. Sam Curran showing why he’s one of the best bowlers of the tournament, scoring a beautiful 3 wickets for only 12 runs. Pakistan would collect themselves and would need to put up a strong defence if they were to win this game and they looked poised to do that, scoring a wicket in the first over to get out English T20 regular Alex Hales. Then, in the 3rd over, they were able to take out star batsmen Butler who is out for 26. The English are now 32/2 and the man coming would be the one who may just lift them over the finish line. English legend Ben Stokes would be the one to replace Butler, and in dominant fashion he would be able to score a half century, putting the three lions in an ultimately comfortable position maintaining his composure and taking runs tactically and patiently. Stokes would not fall for the rest of the game and would watch as his teammates were replaced, creating 4 partnerships. First with Butler, then Harry Brook, then Mooen Ali and finally Liam Livingstone. English batting began to ramp up and Pakistan was unable to break through the batting attack. With a ball in the second last over Stokes hit it down leg for a single, and with an entire over left, England was crowned champions in Australia. 

 With an all-star performance, with the ball in hand throughout the entire tournament and helping to lift his team to victory, Sam Curran was named player of the tournament and in a final triumph, the English team hoisted the trophy to the sky as the kings of cricket.