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The evening that began with what must be one of the most intimidating overs in Twenty20 history, ended in a flurry of fours and sixes from Shahid Afridi’s free-spirited blade. In the three-and-a-half hours in between, there were only a few moments when Pakistan flirted with the uncertainty that so typifies their cricket.
And at the end, they had trumped a Sri Lankan team that had been clinical and unbeaten through the tournament by eight wickets — a margin of victory that indicated the difference between the teams on the day.
Captain Younis Khan, draped in a Pakistan flag, spoke emotionally at the post-match press conference. He dedicated the win to former coach Bob Woolmer, who died when with the team for the World Cup in the Caribbean. “I wish he was sitting here next to me.”
Younis, who also announced his retirement from Twenty20 cricket, spoke too of how much this win would mean to his people back home. “It is our gift to the people of Pakistan,” he said. At the end of the game, the streets of London had exploded in deliriously happy green; imagine then, the streets of Karachi or Lahore.
The fear going into this final was that they would implode, as they did in a final at Lord’s 10 years ago, almost to the date. Playing Australia for the 1999 World Cup title, they had been bowled out for an embarrassing 132 batting first. They needed, desperately, to hit the ground running this time.
Mohammad Aamer, all of 17, charged in first up and bowled five menacing climbers at Tilakaratne Dilshan’s ribcage. They rattled the tournament’s best batsman and, in attempting a half-pull, half-scoop, he popped one up to short fine-leg.
Abdul Razzaq, the ex-ICL rebel drafted midway through the tournament, then took over. Jehan Mubarak skied one while trying to whip him across the line, Sanath Jayasuriya nicked a short-arm jab on to his stumps, Mahela Jayawardene played a late cut straight to Misbah ul Haq at slip. Four down for 32 became six down for 70: it was Sri Lanka, not Pakistan, who were self-destructing.
Captain, Kumara Sangakkara watched the mayhem from the other end, shaking his head in disbelief at every wicket. He stayed till the end, and in the company of Angelo Mathews, took the total to a respectable 138. Not what he would have wanted winning the toss and batting, but defendable, given his strong bowling attack.
But Pakistan were not going to let this slip, not on this day.
Kamran Akmal thumped boundaries and sixes and ran between wickets like his life depended on it. Shahzaib Hussain struggled at the other end, but as a partnership, they worked their way past the early nerves.
They fell in the space of two overs, but Shahid Afridi, fresh off his single-handed demolition of South Africa, was in the mood again. He started with an uncharacteristic collection of singles, waiting for the right moment to unleash the big hits. Muttiah Muralitharan bore the brunt - going for a massive one over mid-wicket and a regal boundary to extra-cover. Isuru Udana suffered worse - 19 came off the 19th over of the chase.
Two years ago, Pakistan fell short by an agonising five runs against India. Today, they could’ve chased many, many more.
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indians u can just make movies and can dance an do nothing else your poor people are dying an u make bombs for inknown enemys plz dont get serious on cricket its just the begning an i just feel pity about all thoes who comment except few who write maturely
Congratulations to pakistan who won the T20 world cup , they played for our pride whole ndian kashmir is so happy today thanks pakistan keep winning, PAKISTAN ZINDA BAAD
Our Indian players could definitely learn from the Pakistani win, but I don't know if they have the time to do so,with so many pressing engagements to feature in TV ads, and giving interviews to silly gossip columns.
pls dont be jealous , accept our superiority in criket , hockey , squash , and all other games played by indians .
I think its good to see sme indians acting positively by wishing Pakistan, but still some people are there who i think don't know the difference b/w sports and politics.... Be mature, We too faced the pressure in 2007 T20, which u ppl have went through now.... Face the reality, and i saw some ppl commenting this victory as a fake, i advice you to better stop watching sports as u dnt have a heart and brain too !!Wishing my Sensible Indian frnds like Dr. Ram and TRUEINDIAN that India will get through their internal issues soon, they are one of the best as their ranking shows...Its just Cricket so Enjoy it .....Pakistan Zindabad !
its jus one victory!!!, pakis...nd be thankfull u r allowed to comment over here...b happy , celebrate the win...wasup wid the comments full of hatred...shame on u guys..and yeah,every team has good days nd bad days...this time it wasnt us..congrats again,,u guys jus got a reason to b happy after destruction in ur country...peace..
Shahid Afridi you my friend are a Legend
the act of state sponser terrorism,exporting terrorism to every nooke and corner of the world,britain ,america,australia every body asssonas they see the name pakis they get suspecious about intention,can never be put behind by winning a cricket game.what i am concerned about is my dear motherland which was torn apart by their looters religious fanatics ancesters,they have torn apart a beutiful HINDU LAND AND CONVERTED INTO ROGUE terrorist exporter pakistan.even that doesnt satisfy them they want more.we should wake up to this and break all ties with pakistan,no pakistani should ever be allowed to enter our beautiful motheralnd,BCCI should never ever allow the paki player to play in our tournament,we can have more bangaladeshi brothers.dont have any relation with pak how can we have relation with enemy who wants to distroy us,anybody in the country with relation with paki should be suspected of links with isi.i dont believe in the word moderate india neutral pakistani.jai hind
to Ravinder and Raj ram, Mr Ravinder maybe since you dont read pakistani news and blogs doesnt mean other indian ppl dont. And Yes I do completely remember a lot of indian readers and ppl commenting on pakistani blogs and cricket blogs criticizing any and everything about pakistan even stuff completely irrelevant to cricket and yes all of it was published. Noone in pakistan is jealous of india. I for one appreciate the positive comments from some in indian media about pak teams hardwork currently. This should be the spirit for all of us, theres ignorant ppl on both sides that will say stupid things, and Pak fans should set an example right now by taking this in humbleness. But dont think I or other pakistani fans have not been hearing pointless biased comments about pakistan forever from some close minded indian people as well. Lets just stop the ignorance and appreciate cricket, indian or pakistan, good cricket rules!!
Hi goody good morning to everyone and congratulation to everyone it doesn't matter T20 cup goes to Pakistan the important thing is that the cup is remain in subcontinent so be positive and open mind don't show any jealousy. you know from beginning of tournament we are all (Indian, Sri Lanka,Bangladesh and Pakistan) community here in Dubai are hoping and wishing the team to work hard and remain the cup in subcontinent it doesn't matter Pakistan Win that to be frankly Pakistani Team Deserve the way the play the game with full effort. I'm sorry to say these effort and enthusiasm missing in Indian team i hope soon or later India will come back well... Once Again Bohat Bohat Mubarak hooo and keep smiling my subcontinent brother
I sincerely hope that our government and BCCI,should realise the fact that we are at constant war with this rogue country,4 times it was evident but it goes on 24 hours a day,7 days a week.i want to know when we are at war why half hearted measures to keep any diplomatic ties with this enemy.i hope all ties are broken,no pakistani whether a cricketer,umpire,artist or journalist,singer,dancer,diplomats should ever be allowed to keep their feet on our beutiful motherland.WHAT EVER WE DO WE SHOULD DO 100%,and at war in particular .even cricket commentaters from pakistan should never be given indian visa,dont be hesitant to acknowledge they are our greatest enemy.fight war in all sphere,we have been a constant victim of thier state sponser terrorism.we should increase our presence in afganistan and help them in developing their country its poverty is exploited by pak rogue army and isi,as breeding ground ,isi has made kabul burn and want to keep lahore peacefull that has back fired now.
Congrats Pakistan ! Thats the real spirit.Big knock....Same wishes for india.....Indian team deserves the best But they were lacking in this Major.Hope they will recover soon..And plz don't criticize on each other.It does'nt show the respect that should be.Hope and wish that pakis and indians get together with hand in hand...
we r more advanced in economy but in cricket we indians r nothing compared to pakistan. thats the fact. we still think of that mighty 6 in sharjah and get goose bumps. overall H-H pakistan has a better record than us.congrats pak. keep on winning. there r some cheap mentality people in our country n all they know is hatred an isolation of ur (Pakistan) existance. i apologize on their behalf.
Go!Go! till you are crowned the world champions,from ashes you emerged and fire you are,you critics will bow down in silence and hide thier faces.Congrats,for the big win,keep the firery fire burning till the end.From the turmoil at home you put a brave fight and from a hardwork,fantastic team spirit you have the crown,Bravo.You are the role models of your country ,continue carrying the flag of Pakistan and may peace reign back home and that the children will find a place to prove it in future that cricket has a home in Pakistan,the world cup at Lords was sizzling as from an impressive final comeback proved you are worth.I wail from South East Asia,Long live Cricket may it unite Pakistan and the valleys and mountains host matches in future,peace,love and unity come to the Swat Valley,Waziristan and other regions.Peace,and congrats Pakistan.
Srilanka defeated Pakistan earlier South Africa defeated Pakistan in warm up match how come in semifinal and final Pakistan is able to beat them ? if it is not fluke but else it is ? They never defeated india or first line Australian team how are they champions ? it is sheer unpredictable nature of game and this is what i remind these boorish pakistanis who are coming out of their skins.It is not a big deal.In any case you had nothing to loose right ? The pity is on one hand you guys beg and plead for understanding ur situation and seek help and next day if u hit a blinder you try to chide the same world.YOU still dont belong to top teams of the world.
Whil whil thats why my beloved pakistan is label unpredictable.becouse they will pull up even if there one foot is in the grave.will the clinicaly dead INDIA cricket team will congratulate there counter part great PAKISTAN cricket team or they want to stay in the buncker just like any other looser and mourn the pakistan victory.
PAKISTAN CRICKET WAS TOTALLY ECLIPSED BY INTERNAL VIOLENCE
congrats to pakistan.......and just to be clear india is not our big brother.
The fact is India has never won a match of Importance in a decade. The Last ICC T20 is a fluke. Actually Misbah had won the match for them but, because of his stupid negative batting they lost. BCCI is spending so much Indian money on the foreign countries players and making them a stronger team. BCCI should be forced to focus only on Indian players as the funds which the garner ultimately goes out from the pocket of INDIANS. But so shameless is Mr. Lalit modi - he was blowing up the profits which should have gone to the benifit of Indian society - he was donating as if it was his fathers money..... Indian players should now join bollywood... that the only place for them. The do not have national pride or prestige...
SERIOUSLY GUYS this feuding war and competition between pakistan and india has been going on forever but i personally don't care, i mean hell im from pakistan, but i still belive that we came from "india" so to speak. I think "us pakistanis" get excited because there's little good news at home nowadays like mentioned earlier, and that little something sport thats so close to our hearts just gives us something to be happy and proud for; SO don't try to make this a india pakistan thing, just let us cherish our moment?
i do not care pakistan won world cup or not. I am only interested in when pakistan going to go mad and nuke delhi and mumbai. That will be the day india will be free of Caste Racism. Without shock therapy indians will keep building temples and stop asking questions. Or china nuke india. I really do not want india divided but there is no other way for india to be truely free of cast racism.
Pakistan T20 team played well and desereved the title. Congratulations. Inspite of the turmoil back home the players fought back for the revival of the game. The infighting in the management also a demorliling factor for the team and earlier match fixing allegations were the negative factors the had to fight from within.
Congrats to Pakis...now they will have something to cheer about rather than feel jealous and resentful towards their mighty powerful big brother India.
Hi fellas- Cricket is just a game and one team wins. Last time, it was India this time it is Pakistan and who knows next time it may be Sri Lanka. The quality of an individual or a nation is shown by how it reacts when it is happy or when it is miserable. Unfortunate as it stands now, India and Pakistan are part of a zero-sum game; a gain by one is not appreciated by other and is considered a loss while it shouldn't be the case. So... Indians, I am sure you are angry as your team didn't do well and (worse of!) Pakistan did. But, would you be able to rise above your emotions and show you are truly a great nation... as you claim?
Mr Taha .. read the uncharitable comments of ur countrymen beofe u criticize indians.What u see in them ? It was not compensation for india that pakistanis were,nt upset with india and remeber india had defeated pakistan twice in that tournament in 2007. Secondly indians dont swarm pakistani paper like you pakistanis abuse the hospitality of indians papers and even if indians write your insecure paper will never publish it.There is nothing wrong with indian team they will bounce back but thanks for ur concern. 80% of comments are from pakistanis .. why ? you dont have ur papers ? it is so boorish indeed it is beacuse of your inability to digest even a moderate sucsess and cynicism that accomapanies it that u guys jump out of ur skin and would start hurling sarcastic comments.So people hit back.Indian press is giving huge coverage to ur victory and here u guys just not appreciative of that. India won championship in 2007 this time someone else is champion.. big deal ?