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| Worthy Champions: Outgoing skipper Younus Khan made good on several promises as slow-starting Pakistan came good at Lord’s. “They [Sri Lanka] have a very balanced team, especially their spinners and they have a good all-rounder as well and in-form batsmen like Dilshan and Jayasuriya,” Khan said of his opponents. He also paid tribute to his friend and opposite number Kumar Sangakkara. Pakistan lost their warm-up matches badly, including to India, but both manager Intikhab Alam and Khan promised that they would come good when it mattered. They only lost two matches, once to England – their first match and the other to Sri Lanka in the Super-Eights, but they were the closest. They won the hard way; beating the previously undefeated South Africa in the semi-final and the mighty Sri Lankan’s in the final, as Shahid Afridi found his form with the bat at last with half-centuries in both matches. The Final Collapse: Sri Lanka chose to bat, but soon had to regret that decision as Player of the tournament Tillakaratne Dilshan was dismissed for a duck in the first over, closely followed by Jehan Mubarak for the same score. The veteran Sri Lankan opening batsman Sanath Jayasuriya tried to counter-attack, scoring one of two sixes in the innings. He was dismissed for 17 and Mahela Jayawardena failed again. Although Mohammad Aamir started the rot, a devastating spell from Abdul Razzaq – the first to take advantage of an amnesty for players returning from the Indian Cricket League – put the Sri Lankans firmly on the back foot. After Younus Khan’s complaints about fielding earlier in he tournament, it must have pleased the skipper, playing his last international Twenty20 match, to see the veteran Misbah ul-Haq hold a good catch to dismiss Jayawardena and reduce the Lankans to 32 for 4. Only Sangakkara remained of the big four. The pattern of Sri Lanka’s totals re-asserted itself again. The big four – Dilshan: Jayasuriya, Jayawardena and Sangakkara never all delivered and rarely if ever together, but in every match one of them did. Sangakkara’s form had been poor for most of the tournament, but Sri Lanka’s skipper chose the right moment to come to the fore. Chamara Silva helped him to consolidate the innings before giving Umer Gul his only wicket of the day It was 70 for 6 when the unexpected hero of the destruction of the West Indies in the semi-final Angelo Mathews came to the wicket with his side in serious danger of collapsing to under a hundred all out as had happened to New Zealand’s women earlier. The Recovery: It seemed all over long before Mathews joined his captain in the middle, but Twenty20 is unpredictable. Mathews had set incredible standards of fielding and made a case for inclusion as the fourth M with Lasith Malinga: Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis, taking 3 wickets for one run in the semi-final. Mathews enhanced his reputation as Sangakkara played the anchor role, hitting the bad ball, while Mathews did the power-hitting, hitting only the second six of the innings, taking the attack to Umer Gul and also the teenager, Mohammad Aamir. Sangakkara was the rock around which the Sri Lankan innings was developed after the horrible start with a magnificent 64, but Mathews’ 35 not out in quick time was essential to set a competitive total that had seemed unlikely at the beginning. Big Game Player: Younus Khan stood by Shahid Afridi earlier in the competition when the Hard-hitting all-rounder’s form was wretched. Afridi acknowledged that his form had been poor for two years but that Khan’s confidence in him helped him to come good when it mattered most. Khan told Afridi that he could bat up the order at three if he wanted to. Afridi deserved his place for bowling alone and took a fantastic catch to dismiss Scott Styris the first of Umer Gul’s five wickets and his bowling justified his inclusion as concerns were raised about his batting. He was played into form, scoring half centuries in both the semi-final and final. A Bowler’s Game: “It is a bowler’s game,” Sangakkara insisted again after his feared attack had for once failed to deliver. Throughout the competition Mendis had outshone Murali, but the Pakistanis worked him out. He failed to take a wicket. By Pakistani standards their batting was conservative. 138 was a low target, even for Lords, but the Pakistani batsmen, like their bowlers found form at the right time and gave a suffering nation something to celebrate. Shahzaib Hasan, another of the youngsters who has been blended into a side containing experience, played the anchoring role as Kamran Akmal kept the score-board ticking over. Akmal matched the Sri Lankan total for sixes on his own, but perished chasing further runs, neatly stumped by Sangakkara. It required the wiles of the veteran Jayasuriya to deny the Pakistani openers a fifty stand, claiming Akmal, for 37 two short of the mark. That brought Afridi to the crease and he proved that there will always be a place for talented attacking batsmen in Twenty20 cricket, although he had to curb his natural attacking flair at first as Muralitharan became the only other Sri Lankan bowler to claim a wicket by enticing Hasan into a false stroke that was caught by Jayasuriya. However, Sri Lanka’s fielding was below the usual exceptional standards of previously. Shoaib Malik batted well rotating the strike to Afridi who proved his return to form with another half century. It was a restrained knock by his standards, but it ensured that they were always within striking distance as Isuru Udana compounded his failure with the bat with profligate figures of 0 for 44 from his four overs and Mendis was finally tamed. Muralitharan was economic in comparison but Malik and especially Afridi judged their chase well. “We need him at the top of the order, especially in the one-day game,” said a victorious Khan who kept faith in Afridi when others called for him to be dropped. “He knows that he's a match-winner for us, especially in the last two innings, he was really fantastic for us.” Afridi made his second consecutive half-century when it really mattered and then scored the winning boundary of Lasith Malinga, the most economic of the Sri Lankan bowlers. Afridi was named Man of the Match for his 54 from 40 balls, which included two sixes and two fours. He quickly acknowledged the immense contribution that Younus Khan had made. “The last two and a half, three years I have bowled really well but I was struggling with my batting,” said Afridi. “Younus gave me good confidence. I told him that I wanted to bat at number three in the order and he said, ‘OK, if you're confident just go and play. Don't worry about anything.’ The guys really motivated themselves and Younus really supported the guys and told us to go and enjoy our cricket. Twenty20 is all about enjoyment and entertainment. if you do this then you perform well." Although Dilshan was named Player of the Tournament, Afridi ran him close and won the most important award for a man of the match performance that gave Pakistan their first trophy for seventeen years. More importantly Pakistanis could cheer about cricket again. Few could deny them that. |
