Former England captain Eoin Morgan was hugely impressed with the performance of Ben Stokes in guiding the side to their second Men's T20 World Cup trophy with an unbeaten 52, saying that the all-rounder continues to stand up for the side in big games.
Few questions were raised over Stokes' selection in the T20 World Cup squad despite him not featuring much in T20Is. But all those doubts were quashed when Stokes stood up to the occasion and took England over the line in a 49-ball knock to hunt down 137/8 made by Pakistan with an over to spare and five wickets in hand.
"Ben is just such a special player. In big games, he continues to stand up for his country when his country needs him. That is such an incredible skill to have.""When something has the potential to go awry, Ben is the guy that thinks coolly and calmly under pressure and makes brilliant decisions.
He's done it so many times now," said Morgan on Sky Sports after the match ended.Morgan, who retired from international cricket in July 2022 and was commentating on Sunday's final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, believes England can now be regarded as one of the great limited-overs sides as they are now the first men's side to hold 50-over and 20-over trophies at the same time.
"It is such an incredible feeling pure joy, relief, happiness. This team deserves it. They've been through the mill in the group stages and they've produced close to their very best against India in the semifinal."
"Jos Buttler said, 'We don't want to be known as a team just for our style of play'. We were known like that in 50 overs then won the 50-over World Cup in 2019. In T20 they've now won something tangible to be regarded as one of the great sides.
They were excellent," he concluded.Asked after the end of the match whether he doubted England would get over the line, Stokes said he had no doubts as such in his mind."I didn't feel like it was out of our hands at all.
I tried to make sure I stayed there as long as I possibly could at the end.""It's easier when you have a batter in at the end of the innings and it's never really panic stations when it's under eight runs an over and Mo (Moeen Ali) got us really going."
Stokes, the Test skipper, revealed that England started to play their best version in the T20 World Cup after a shock five-run loss to Ireland in a rain-hit Super 12 match at the MCG. "In finals, especially chasing, you forgot all the hard work that came first.
To restrict them to 130, the bowlers have to take a lot of credit. Adil Rashid and Sam Curran won us the game.""With Ireland being so early in the competition, we had to address it. Say what had to be said and then let it go.
We can't carry baggage in tournaments. That was a little blip on the way, credit to Ireland for turning up and beating us.""The best teams take it on the chin, and move on to the next challenge. A pretty good evening. Representing your country in World Cups is amazing. It's been a good one."