England’s Sam Curran won the Player of the Tournament award for a starring performance with the ball at the T20 World Cup in Australia. 24-year-old Curran took 13 wickets in the tournament and was also awarded Man of the Match award in the final for a spell of 3/12 in 4 overs as England won their second T20 World Cup.
At the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday, England restricted Pakistan to a below-par 137/8 after 20 overs with Curran pick of the bowlers, assisted by Adil Rashid, Chris Jordan and Ben Stokes. England then prevailed over Pakistan despite losing 5 wickets to lift the trophy. Ben Stokes also starred with the bat, making his maiden T20 fifty in the final.
The ICC had released a shortlist of nine players for the T20 World Cup 2022 Player of the Tournament voting. Fans were offered a chance to weigh in with their votes. 5 England and Pakistan players made the shortlist along with two Indian stars and one each from Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.
Star batsman Virat Kohli and Suryakumar had featured from India. England’s stars Jos Buttler and Sam Curran were joined by Alex Hales after his standout semi-final innings. Pakistan had Shaheen Afridi and Shadab Khan on the list. The other two spots went to Sri Lanka’s wicket taking bowler Wanindu Hasaranga and Zimbabwe all-rounder Sikandar Raza.
Eventual winner Sam Curran also bowled the best figures of the tournament, picking up 5 wickets for just 10 runs against Afghanistan in the Super 12 stage. Curran bowled with an average of 11.38. After picking up 10 wickets in the Super 12 stage, Curran had gone for runs and failed to pick any against India in the semi-final. He bounced back with Man of the Match figures in the final.
Virat Kohli was the leading run scorer at the 2022 edition, becoming the first player to do so in two T20 World Cup tournaments. Wanindu Hasaranga ended as the leading wicket taker with 15 scalps. The highest score of the T20 World Cup was made by Riley Rossouw who made a brilliant 109-run century against Bangladesh when South Africa also made the highest total of the tournament with 205/5. England had the highest win percentage of the tournament of 83.3%.
2022 Champions England also became the first team in cricket history to hold both the ODI World Cup and T20 World Cup titles at the same time. Skipper Jos Buttler joined MS Dhoni as the only second wicket keeper captain to win the T20 World Cup.
READ | PAK vs ENG T20 World Cup Final: Ben Stokes fifty powers England to second T20 WC title
