ICC Hails 'GOAT' Ben Stokes For His Player Of The Match Performance In World Cup 2019 Final
Published - 15 Jul 2019, 12:04 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:01 AM
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If not for Ben Stokes’ heroics, England would have fallen short in the final of ICC World Cup 2019. The 28-year-old all-rounder did everything he could do on the field and with luck on his side, he finally saw England tie the match and super over as well to clinch the trophy for the first time in the history of World Cup.
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It was a long long wait for England, who had last played a World Cup final in 1992. Post 2015 failure, the team underwent drastic changes but in the end, it all boiled down the final over of the match where Stokes, with his heroics, etched his name in the memories of the fans.
At first, he took control of the match after coming to the crease with England three down on 71. Slowly and steadily, he took the game away from Blackcaps. His partnership worth 110 with Jos Buttler for the fifth wicket kept England alive. Stokes remained not out on 84* after watching England tie the scores with New Zealand.
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In the super over, he got nine on four deliveries to rally England to a score of 15. As it turned out to be, the scores in the superover were also tied.
Stokes, for his match-winning efforts, was awarded the Player of the Match award and he got his awards from none other than Sachin Tendulkar. ICC presented the iconic photo of Stokes and Tendulkar in a funny way and called Stokes ‘Greatest of All Time.’ Here is the post –
The greatest cricketer of all time – and Sachin Tendulkar ?#CWC19Final pic.twitter.com/fQBmfrJoCJ
— Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) July 14, 2019
While Stokes is yet to achieve the legend status that Tendulkar holds, Stokes did come up with a superlative performance in the final. He saved his best for the last and did the job when it mattered the most.
England ended their title drought and finally clinched the trophy after a wait of 44 years.
On the other hand, New Zealand’s wait to win the World Cup extended by four more years. In 2015 as well, they ended up as the second-best team losing to Australia in the final. No one had rated New Zealand as the favourites at the start of the tournament but the Blackcaps did stun everyone with their performances throughout the tournament.
