Live Score
Cricket Teams
Cricket Players'They must surely take the Cup home. They have firepower': Legends reveal their pick for Pakistan vs England T20WC final
Both have had rather contrasting runs to the final, but only one team will go home with the elusive trophy at the end of Sunday evening and legends of the game have placed their prediction for the final.
After 44 matches stretched across an enthralling month of cricketing action in Australia, which witnessed some wonderful performances at individual level, matches going down the wire and few many upsets, T20 World Cup 2022 is down the last and final match of the tournament - the summit clash at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground - where 2009 champions Pakistan will take on England, the winners of 2010. Both have had rather contrasting runs to the final, but only one team will go home with the elusive trophy at the end of Sunday evening and legends of the game have placed their prediction for the final.
Pakistan weren't among the favourites for the trophy, and after the start they had incurred which included a shock defeat to lower-ranked Zimbabwe, they were written off. But Pakistan rose from the ashes of humiliation to script four consecutive wins in a row, which included a victory over New Zealand in the semis, to make their first ever final at an ICC event in five years.
England too were stunned by Ireland in a rain-marred game before the relied ton net run rate to make it through to the semis where they demolished overwhelming favourites, India, by 10 wickets in Adelaide, to make their third T20 World Cup final.
Ahead of the big night, few legends of the game have placed their prediction for the match and it seems one team has emerged as the outright favourites among them.
“My personal opinion, man to man, England must surely take the Cup home! BUT, the beauty of Sport tells us it’s just not that simple! Gonna come down to who wants it most, along with the the rhythm and beauty of the game. Who knows?!” tweeted AB de Villiers.
Former India skipper Anil Kumble too backed the Jos Buttler-led side to emerge as champions. "England certainly have the upper hand in terms of the experience and the firepower that they have and the options that’s available for them in the bowling line-up as well. But Pakistan will be formidable. Which Pakistan will turn up on Sunday, that’s the big question," he told ESPNCricinfo.
His former colleague, Harbhajan Singh, too sided with Kumble. "I think England slightly have the edge in the final but it does not matter. In the final, teams that absorb pressure better than the other, I think they go on to become the champions. The final is all about how you want to play the final, whether you think about the final or you take it as just another game. Simple thing is, when your mind is relaxed, you tend to do better," he told India Today.
