×

"Great news but.."- Ben Stokes blunt reply when asked about IND-PAK T20 World Cup final

 

The T20 World Cup 2022 has reached its business end, with the top four teams of the tournament facing each other in the semi-finals to prove their worth for the grand finale. New Zealand will lock horns with Pakistan in the first semi-final on Wednesday, November 9 at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

In the second semi-final, it will be a contest between India and England at the Adelaide Oval on November 10, Thursday. With two semi-finals to be played in a couple of days, the speculation has already started among the fans.

Many have already called it an India vs Pakistan final on November 13. Fans believe that the top two Asian sides will play in the final of the tournament at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. These two qualified from Group 2 and have already played a group game that India won.

However, an IND-PAK final can only be possible if these two teams can win the semi-final games. And that will not be easy because they have got two of the best sides to deal with. Thus, the challenge will be enormous.

However, ahead of the second semi-final between India and England, an India journalist also asked the same question to star English all-rounder Ben Stokes and also asked whether England could spoil the IND-PAK final. To that, the all-rounder gave a straight-line answer.

He replied, "Great news for you guys if it's the India vs Pakistan final. Look, I don't know, we are just here to hopefully win on Thursday."

Notably, New Zealand has also played a really good brand of cricket, and they started their campaign with a massive win over the defending champion, Australia, that costed them their semi-final spot. On the other hand, apart from the rain-affected loss, England hasn't lost any other game.

Stokes was also asked about the comeback of Virat Kohli, who was under a lot of pressure and had been facing criticism for quite a while. The all-rounder said, "He has earned the right to be never be written off. You don't produce the numbers and innings, he has done in all three formats."

Virat is the leading run-scorer in the ongoing tournament. He has scored 246 runs in five innings at an average of 123 and a strike rate of 138.98. He has also scored three unbeaten half-centuries so far.