Pakistan - the new T20 champions

Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka by 8 wickets on Sunday, 21 June, at Lords to become the new T20 champs. It was boom boom Afridi all the way. He claimed one wicket for every 21 runs and finished the game with an unbeaten 54 off 40 balls.

CJ: Deepak Dogra

Mon, Jun 22, 2009 09:19:21 IST

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ICC T20 World Cup :

WILL PAKISTAN be able to do it this time? Will they be able to stop the roaring Lankan tigers? These questions and others were finally answered by the Pakistan team on Sunday, when they defeated Sri Lanka by 8 wickets. This was Pakistan’s second biggest victory in world cricket, the first being, of course, the 50-overs World Cup win under the captaincy of Imran Khan, way back in 1992. A sea of green was clearly visible at Lords.

Everything went according to the Pakistani team's plan after they lost the toss and the Sri Lankan captain chose to bat. The in-form Sri Lankan opener Dilshan was tested from the very first over by some short pitch deliveries from Amer, the young Pak bowler. Dilshan found the short pitch deliveries hard to handle and soon got out by scooping a ball to short line leg, which went out even as he attempted opening his account. In the very next over Abdul Razzaq sent back Zehan Mabarak for zero; Mabarak was incidentally promoted up the order. Jayasuriya who scored 17 off 10 balls, tried his best to up the tempo by hitting a six and a four but in the fourth over Razzaq disturbed his plans and sent him back to the pavillion.

Mahela Jayawerdene soon followed him by scoring one run, becoming Razzaq’s third victim. Sangakara was the only batsman who looked solid and he went on to contribute an unbeaten 64 off 52 balls. In the final overs, Angelo Mathews went on to hit some lusty blows and scored 35 runs off 24 balls, helping Sri Lanka reach a total of 138.

While chasing, Pakistan got off to decent start and scored 48 runs before losing their first wicket in the form of Kamran Akmal in the eight over; Akmal had scored 37 off 27 balls. Their second wicket, Hasan, fell with a score of 63 (in the tenth over). After that, Shahid Afridi and Malik batted sensibly to ensure that Pakistan reached the total set by Lanka without further ado. Afridi made 54 off 40 balls, while Malik contributed 24 of 22 balls. Pak reached home in 18.4 overs. This defeat was Sri Lanka's only loss in the tournament.

After a long time, it was a pleasure to see Pakistan playing as a team. This win will help Pakistan grow further as a cricketing nation. Well-played, Pak!

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