"Curran has been very clever, he watches the batsman till late. He just doesn't go to one predictable length," Shan Masood. ©Getty
Ahead of the final of World Cup 2022, the battle lines had seemingly been drawn with a great focus on the duel between England's batting and Pakistan's bowling that would decide the winner. That face-off remained a spectacle by itself with Pakistan gamely striving to defend a total of 137 and nearly pulling it off until a freak injury to Shaheen Afridi, and Ben Stokes derailed their plans.
But this part, and the innings, felt like a twist added to a climax that had perhaps already gotten an ending. Pakistan, as Babar Azam and Shan Masood, would later concede in their post match press interactions, had fallen well short of a target that they were eyeing.
They had been denied, by England's best suit of the tournament - their death bowling.
