England had a similarly slow start, losing to Ireland in their second game then seeing a crunch tie with Australia rained off. But impressive wins over New Zealand and Sri Lanka saw them scrape through to the semi-finals on net run rate. Against India, Jos Buttler’s side truly ignited, with the captain and Alex Hales smashing them to an utterly dominant 10-wicket win.

Who are the stars?

Openers Rizwan and Azam, the men’s No 2 and No 4 T20 batters in the world, had a slow start but Rizwan, in particular, has found his form as the tournament has progressed. Mohammad Haris has weighed in with vital middle order runs. With the ball, Shaheen Shah Afridi has a claim to have been the best seamer in the tournament, while Shadab Khan’s parsimonious leg-spin is always a threat.

England’s batting lineup is probably the deepest in the world but the onus is still on the openers Buttler and Hales, who blitzed the India attack in the semi-final. Sam Curran has been exceptional with the ball, both in the power play and the death overs, and Adil Rashid started the tournament slowly but was superb against India.

Has either team won it before?

For both teams this will be their third men’s final. England rather surprisingly won the 2010 edition but were beaten by West Indies in the 2016 final. Pakistan were triumphant in 2009 having lost the 2007 final to India. It’s also a repeat of the 1992 50-over World Cup final, also played at the MCG, when Imran Khan led Pakistan to a famous victory over Graham Gooch’s England.