Pakistan wins the ICC T20 title

THE FINAL match of the T20 World Cup was a match where Shahid Afridi had the chance to wash away all the criticism he had faced in the past. He played one of the finest knocks he has ever played. Its not that he wasn’t aggressive but he was sensible enough to finish the match for Pakistan. The Lankan tigers didn't have any answer for the approach, with which Pakistan had planned their innings.

The Lankan tigers won the toss and decided to bat first. The left arm seamer bowled with an accurate first over and he was awarded with the prize wicket of brutal Dilshan. Dilshan tried to clear third man and was caught doing so. Maiden first over with the wicket of Dilshan was all that Pakistan dreamt of as a brilliant start. Three balls later, Jehan Mubarak fell for a duck of the bowling of Abdul Razzak. In a matter of time, Razzak took two more wickets and the Lankan tigers were struggling at 32 runs off four wickets.

Few overs later, the score board read 62/6 and the Sri Lankans fans certainly looked disappointed. But after losing six wickets, Kumar Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews had an unbeaten partnership of 68 runs off just 42 balls. This partnership helped them achieve a very much defendable total of 138 runs. It was a great fight back by the Sri Lankans after they were struggling at 62/6. Now with their M4 pacer attack a score of 138 was quite defendable. Morover, as compared to 62/6, 138 was a huge total to chase for the Pakistani batsmen facing the lethal Sri Lankan bowling attack.

But Pakistan had adopted an altogether different approach. They had partnerships, which proved to be very crucial and made them the champions. Kamran Akmal and Shahzaib Hasan were very conscious and sensible at the same time while opening the innings for the initial few overs. Against South Africa Akmal had scored 23 off just 12 balls and had looked very aggressive. In the final match he was both sensible and aggressive. By the end of six overs Pakistan had scored 39 without any loss of wicket. In the sixth and seventh over, Akmal hit two sixes making it sure that the asking run rate doesn’t leap up too much and things are under control. In the eighth over off the very first bowl bowled by Jayasuriya, Akmal was stumped by Sangakkara as he went down the wicket.

The Lankan side had the reason to smile as they got their first wicket. Soon Hasan who kept struggling departed as well after which Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik began reconstructing the innings. Afridi who has grown so much into confidence played sensibly and played big hits whenever the run rate asked for so. Malik kept rotating the strikes and in the last five overs Pakistan needed just 36 runs to win with eight wickets in hand. Afridi scored his second consecutive fifty and with some power hitting towards the end gave his side one of the best memories to cherish forever. Malik on the other end, remained not out as Afridi boomed all the way! Pakistan won the match comprehensively by eight wickets.

Last time they had missed the trophy by just one hit and they have compensated it this time. Misbah-ul-Haq would be a glad man to see his side winning this time. Afridi has made the real difference both with the bat and the ball. He proved his worth once he was promoted to number three slot and no doubt he has finally got his due for Pakistani cricket. Hats off to the champion player!