Boon-Boon Afridi gets Pakistan the T20 trophy!

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. It’s 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 32/4.

Few overs later the score board read 62/6 and the Sri Lankans fans certainly looked disappointed. But after losing six wickets Sangakara and Mathews had an unbeaten partnership of 68 runs of 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 Shahzab Hosain 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 we was both sensible and aggressive. By the end of 6 overs Pakistan had scored 39 without any loss of wicket. In the 6th, 7th 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 8th over off the very first bowl bowled by Jayasuriya Akmal was stumped by Sangakara as he went down the wicket. The Lankan Side had the reason to smile as they got their first wicket. Soon Hosain who kept struggling departed as well after which Afridi and 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 5 overs Pakistan needed just 36 runs to win with 8 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. Shoaib Malik on the other end remained not out as Afridi boomed all the way! Pakistan won the match comprehensively by 8 wickets! Afridi remained not out on 54*(40 balls) and Shoaib Malik returned not out on 24*(22 balls)

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 3 slot and no doubt he has finally got his due for Pakistani cricket. Hats off to the champion player!

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LANKAN TIGERS demolish the Caribbeans.

The second semi final between Sri Lanka and West Indies will be remembered for the master innings played by Tilakratne Dilshan. The man has been in such sublime form since IPL that he reminds of the kind of form Lance Klusener was in World Cup 2007. The Lankan tigers came in to bat first and with some sensible batting Sri Lanka reached 72 runs at the end of 10 overs. Dilshan who now looks unstoppable in this T20 format scored a flurry of boundaries and had scored 46 out of 24 balls by the end of 10 overs. Jayasuriya who struggled throughout his innings got out scoring 24 off 37 balls. Two balls later Bravo struck again when Sangakara got out playing a risky shot.

13 dot balls that Jayasuriya played had certainly created pressure, it also affected Mahela Jayawardane who got out scoring 2 runs. From 73/0 the scoreboard soon read 73/3 from where Chamara Silva and Dilshan reconstructed the innings and they scored 50 runs off 34 balls. Dilshan single handedly hammered the Caribbean bowlers and no matter how many partnerships took place from the Lankan Side it was Dilshan who led from the front and had he got out early Sri Lankan would have even struggled to reach 100 to defend as a total. He remained not out after playing a brilliant knock of 96* off just 57 balls. Now for a side that had the lethal bowling attack with four M’s- Murali, Mendis, Mathews, Malinga 158 was too much a total to defend.

In one word the West Indies innings was a ‘disaster’. 1, W, 0, W, 0, W-This was the magical first over bowled by Mathews. Gayle took a single off the first ball of the innings and then Marshall, Simmon and the big man Bravo all three of them fell scoring ducks in the next 5 balls. After these three major blows in the very first over the West Indian side knew that this was the end of their journey for this T20 World Cup. Captain Chris Gayle returned not out on 63* as his team collapsed like a pile of cards. It was because of Gayle that the Caribbean’s were able to go pass the 100 mark. They all got out on 101 runs.

The Sri Lankan side looks like the one without any flaws. Their middle order failed in this particular match but that is a rare scenario. Whenever they score above 140 runs their M4 (Mathew, Mendis, Murli, Malinga) pace attack seems to be very lethal for the opponents. If Pakistan plan to entertain any chances of winning the tournament they will have to play the best cricket they have played in the past as this Sri Lankan tigers seem to be desperate about the trophy!

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!