T20 World Cup 2021: Ben Stokes gets unfairly trolled for his tweet asking fans if it will be an England vs Pakistan Final

After more than three weeks of matches, we have the finalists of the men’s T20 World Cup 2021. Australia defeated Pakistan in the second semi-final on November 11 to set up a final date with their Trans-Tasman rivals, New Zealand. England and Pakistan who were tipped to play the final by many fans and experts, bowed out together in a space of 24 hours, much to the disappointment of several of their fans. 

England all-rounder Ben Stokes a few days back had posted a tweet asking the fans if they thought Pakistan and England will play the final. This was when the tournament had started quite brilliantly for both teams. They seemed the two most composed teams in the competition in the two different groups. 

Pakistan by then had already beaten New Zealand, India and Afghanistan and were topping the group 2. On the other hand, England who has been a dominant force in white-ball cricket heading into the tournament had started the tournament with one-sided wins against defending champions West Indies and sub-continent bully Bangladesh. 

Ben Stokes didn’t predict but had just asked fans if England and Pakistan would play the final

After this, Stokes put out a tweet asking the fans, “England vs Pakistan Final ???” This was posted on October 29 when Pakistan had just escaped with a win against Afghanistan due to the heroics of Asif Ali. At the time, many fans and experts felt that England and Pakistan look like the favorites to win this whole thing. 

However, come November 11, things have drastically changed. England failed to keep their calm under pressure at the death overs with the ball against the Blackcaps. Similarly, Pakistan failed to close out the Australian innings despite having them at 96 for 5 at one point, chasing 177. After the game, as the finalists were decided, Twitterati decided to troll Stokes for his tweet. 

The fans discounted the fact that the tweet posted by Stokes had three question marks, which indicates he was asking the fans if the final would be played between England and Pakistan. The fact that it was a mere question or a thought was completely ignored by the fans as they trolled him for making a wrong prediction. However, it should be noted that a prediction comes with no question mark. For instance, Kevin Pietersen’s earlier tweet, ‘give the trophy to England’ can be called a prediction, but not the one which Stokes posted.