England beat Pakistan by five wickets in the T20 World Cup final (Picture: Getty)
India legends Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar have paid tribute to England after they beat Pakistan in the T20 World Cup final.
England chased Pakistan’s 137-8 with five wickets and six balls remaining to become two-time T20 champions.
Jos Buttler’s side beat Pakistan’s arch-rivals India in the semi-finals, having finished second in Super 12 Group 1.
England produced a brilliant bowling performance to restrict Pakistan to 137-8, with left-arm pace bowler Sam Curran taking 3-12 and leg-spinner Adil Rashid taking 2-22.
Pakistan took three powerplay wickets before stifling England, who needed 45 to win from 31 balls before the boundaries began to flow.
Ben Stokes finished unbeaten on 52 as the star all-rounded guided England to victory with an over to spare.
Taking to social media after England’s win, Kohli said: ‘Congratulations England. Well deserved.’
India legend Tendulkar added: ‘Congratulations England on winning your second T20 World Cup. Fantastic achievement.
Virat Kohli reacted to England’s victory (Picture: Instagram)
‘It was a closely fought final and would’ve been even more interesting had [Shaheen] Afridi not been injured. What a rollercoaster of a World Cup.’
England white-ball coach Matthew Mott, meanwhile, hailed his team for holding their nerve in a tense World Cup final chase.
Buttler’s side got ahead of the rate in the powerplay but Pakistan came back into the game and threatened to set up a thrilling finish.
‘I would like to say it was easy but we did it the hard way,’ Mott said. ‘The boys held their nerve and got a great result.
‘We were pretty confident after 10 overs. We couldn’t lay bat on ball for a bit. We always knew we were one big over away from breaking the game and that’s how it turned out.’
On Stokes, Mott said: ‘If there is one player you wanted out there is is Ben. He took a bit of flak before the tournament but he is a match-winner in every tournament and he steadied the ship tonight.’
England vice-captain Moeen Ali added: ‘This is one of the best days of my career.
‘We deserved it over along period of time, we’ve played some amazing cricket but fell short in the semis last year. Now we have done it against an amazing Pakistan side in front of all these fans.’
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India were knocked out in the semi-finals.
