Pakistan vs England, T20 World Cup 2022 Highlights: ENG beat PAK by 5 wickets, crowned champions

Just three fours and one six in the first 10 overs, six of which were of course in the powerplay. England will be very happy with how things have gone so far but this can be seen as a poor start or fantastic laying of foundation from Pakistan's perspective based on what happens next. 

Adil Rashid bowling the eighth and he gets a wicket off his very first ball! Haris tries go over long-on, can't quite middle and it puts it straight down the throat of the man standing at that position. 

Haris c Stokes b Rashid 8 (12), Pakistan 45/2 in 7.1 overs

He just helps this ball with almost a casual scoop over fine leg for the second boundary of the over. That has made this powerplay slightly better for Pakistan, they are 39/1 after 6 overs

Not a delivery Woakes will be proud of. Slow and short going own the leg side from over the wicket and Babar wait for it before pulling away to the boundary. Bit of a free hit. Pakistan 33/1 in 5.2 overs

It's officially a great start for England. Sam Curran, contender for player of the tournament, gets the first wicket for his team in the World Cup final. Full delivery on off and slanting in, Rizwan goes for a drive, ends up getting an inside edge and the ball crashes into leg stump.  

Rizwan b Curran 15 (14), Pakistan 29/1 in 4.2 overs

Much needed for Pakistan and they will need much more of this in the powerplay. For now, despite that six, their innings is looking quite similar to how India looked in the part of their innings, except that they haven't lost a wicket yet. 

Woakes bowling the fourth and Rizwan goes down on one knee off the first ball and sends it sailing over the backward square leg boundary. First boundary of the Pakistan innings coming in the fourth over but better late than never. Pakistan 20/0 in 3.1 overs

No boundaries yet, Babar and Rizwan are knocking off the singles and doubles but not able to find the ropes. So far, so good for England. 

It's all happening in this first over. Rizwan and Babar go for a single that was just not there off the fourth ball. Chris Jordan collects at mid-off and hurtles the ball at the non-striker's end. Rizwan was not even in the frame when balled passed the stumps but, Jordan missed his target.  

Two runs without a ball bowled. No-ball signalled first up and it's a free hit. Then the ball whistles past Rizwan's grill down the leg side and that's a wide. 

Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan come out to open the innings for Pakistan, as they have done this whole tournament. Ben Stokes to bowl England's opening over, as he has done the whole tournament. This is it!

England first and then Pakistan. The stadium reverberates with the sounds of the two anthems. The England players stay while all but two of the Pakistan squad clear out, alongwith all the rest of the paraphernalia on the field. 

West Indies batting great Shivnarine Chanderpaul has carried the trophy out on to the field. The teams will follow soon. 

There is a bit of a closing ceremony show going on at the MCG, which is why the toss took place early. It's a sea of green in the stands, with little dots of blue here and there. But that blue is also interspersed with the blue of Indian jersies standing among the Pakistani majority. 

The West Indies are the only team to have won this tournament more than once but today, they are certain to be joined in that bracket by another team. Pakistan (2009) and England (2010) have both won this tournament before.  

It was in 1992 when Pakistan beat England at the MCG to complete one of the most extraordinary runs in the history off the ODI World Cup with the trophy in their hands. Imran Khan, famously, was the captain at the time and he has a message for the current lot of players. “My msg to Pak cricket team today is the same I gave our team in the 1992 World Cup Final. First: enjoy the day as one rarely gets to play in a World Cup final & don't get overawed by it. Second: you will win if you are willing to take risks & can cash in on mistakes by opponents; That means playing with an attacking mindset. Good luck; the whole nation is praying for your success,” he says in a couple of tweets

“We would've also bowled first but toss is not in our hands, so we will try to put runs on the board and put pressure on them. We have good momentum with us and will try to continue with it. We lost our first few games but have come back strongly and want to continue that in the final. A win always gives you confidence and with the way the team is playing we will give our 100 percent. Yes history repeats (referring to the 1992 World Cup), we will try to win this game and hold the cup. Same team.”

“We are going to bowl first. Huge game, good nerves and there's a lot of good energy around the team. Great energy in the stadium and we are looking forward to a great game. Both teams come into this final in red hot form and we are looking forward to a tough challenge. I think it is a good wicket and hopefully it will stay the same throughout. Obviously there's a little bit of weather around which is why we chose to bowl. We start fresh today, we bring confidence from the other day but we know it counts for nothing today. Same team.”

Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(w), Mohammad Haris, Shan Masood, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi

Jos Buttler(w/c), Alex Hales, Philip Salt, Ben Stokes, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid

Jos Buttler wins toss, England to bowl first. Babar Azam says that he would have chosen to bowl as well. 

Afridi's tournament has been a microcosm of how Pakistan have played thus far. He had a largely forgettable Super 12 stage, looking half-injured and rarely touching 135kmph. But he looked better against Bangladesh and then, the Kiwis bore the full brunt of him finally discovering his purple patch. It is safe to assume that he will be after the throats of the England batters today. 

The emergence of a rivalry between Zimbabwe and Pakistan fans over a fake Mr.Bean might just be one of the more bizarre sporting developments to have come out of any ICC tournament, past or future. That game, which Zimbabwe incredibly, and rather hilariously, won, was called the Mr. Bean derby but that's arguably a better name for this final. England, after all, is the home of the original Bean. 

It can be easy to forget that England's route was pretty incredible as well. They lost to Ireland, then had a game washed out against Australia but then nudged into the semi-finals. There they faced an India team who had done very little wrong in the Super 12 stage. But on the day, India's top order lumbered out the first 10 overs and an extraordinary blitz from Hardik Pandya could only get them to 168. It was no easy total to chase but somebody tell England that - Alex Hales and captain Jos Buttler unleashed themselves on the under pressure Indians and won the match with 10 wickets to spare. 

England may have looked ominously strong in the semi-final against India but Pakistan seem to be in one of those grooves. It looked like they had no chance after they lost their first two matches against India and, shockingly, Zimbabwe. But then it is when they are down that they are the most dangerous in these big tournaments and, with luck smiling on them in the form of Netherlands beating South Africa, New Zealand ended up getting the full blast of Pakistan's brilliance when they are on a roll. The seemingly strong Kiwis lost by seven wickets, utterly outplayed for much of the game and here we are, with Pakistan breathing fire and eyeing their second T20 World Cup title.