England produced an all-round performance to clinch Twenty20 World Cup glory, defeating a spirited Pakistan team by five wickets in Sunday's final at Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Winning the 20-over World Cup has certainly showcased English cricket's revolution in the past few years in white-ball cricket as they have now won two world titles among three ICC tournaments - one in 2019 in 50-over format and this year's T20 crown.
This is the second time England have won a T20 World Cup in eight editions as their first triumph came back in 2010 in the Caribbean Islands.
Pakistan were off to a good start defending the small total of 137 as left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi cleaned up opener Alex Hales in his very first over with his trademark inswinger.
But captain Jos Buttler played a little cameo to provide England a good start as the in-form opener scored a 17-ball 26 with three fours and one six.
The lively pitch at MCG provided some good pace and bounce throughout the match and Pakistan fast bowling attack looked dangerous defending the modest target.
Haris Rauf produced some genuine pace and removed Buttler and Phil Salt (10) within the powerplay to provide some hope for Pakistan.
But England No 4 Ben Stokes played a crucial knock and scored an unbeaten half century to guide them to victory.
Pakistan's young pacer Naseem Shah bowled beautifully, and managed to beat Stokes three times in a row in the 14th over.
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At that stage, the required rate shot to nine per over after the 14th over from a run-a-ball earlier.
The crucial moment of the run-chase came in the 16th over as the equation was 41 needed from 20 balls.
Pakistan still had their premier bowler Afridi's two overs left and a breakthrough was badly needed to pile pressure on England.
But after the first ball, Afridi was looking in discomfort and later left the field with injury.
Forty runs were required at that time from 29 balls and Afridi's injury and inability to take part further in the game was a major blow for Pakistan.
Right arm off-break bowler Iftikhar Ahmed took over the duties of the unfinished over from Afridi, and Stokes took the opportunity to capitalize by scoring some quick runs and closing the gap.
England took three singles from that point and Stokes smashed a boundary and six in the last two balls of the over to literally finish Pakistan's chances.
Just 28 were needed from the last four overs and Moeen Ali struck three boundaries in the 17th over to take England close.
Mohammad Wasim bowled Moeen in the 19th over, but the game was already over for Pakistan at that point.
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Stokes hit the winning runs in the last ball of the 19th over after completing his half century, which was surprisingly his first in T20Is, and the all-rounder yet again contributed for his team when it was needed the most.
Earlier, England elected to bowl first considering the rain prediction in the latter part of the match.
England bowlers were brilliant in the powerplay, and did not give any room to Pakistan top-order to free their arms.
Sam Curran provided the crucial breakthrough by removing Mohammad Rizwan (14) in the fifth over, and only one run came from those six deliveries.
England leg-spinner Adil Rashid bowled a superb spell in the middle overs, and bagged two important wickets conceding just 22 runs with one maiden.
Chris Jordan provided good support at the death, and also picked up two wickets.
But Curran was the star performer with the ball as the left-arm pacer leaked just three runs and four runs in the 17th and 19th overs, and also took two wickets in each over.
Shan Masood scored some valuable runs in the middle (38 off 28) but that was not enough for Pakistan to put up a par score on the board, and eventually they finished their innings on 137 losing eight wickets.
Curran's stunning figure of 4-0-12-3 earned him the player-of-the-final award while his 13 wickets in the competition fetched him the player-of-the-tournament award.
