Pakistan captain Younus Khan has made an emotional appeal for teams to visit his troubled nation after lifting the Twenty20 World Cup at Lord's.

Younis Khan lifts the trophy above his head as his team celebrate victory

Younis dedicates World Cup to nation

Pakistan captain Younis Khan dedicated his team's World Twenty20 title to their troubled homeland on Sunday.

Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka by eight wickets to claim their first major title in 17 years at a sell-out Lord's with all-rounder Shahid Afridi named man of the match for his unbeaten 54 off 40 balls.

"We were underdogs and had less pressure, but we came good in the big games. It's a credit to the country and to the team," said Younis. "We hadn't won anything since Imran Khan's team at the World Cup in 1992. This is a gift to our nation. Hopefully, it will help cheer them up. "Afridi knows he's a great cricketer. He's a match winner and he's been fantastic for us."

Afridi was hailed as 'awesome' after the mercurial star led his country to the title. Afridi smashed his second consecutive half-century, while former captain Shoaib Malik made 24 not out during a match-winning partnership of 76 for the undefeated third wicket. "It was a pressure match. When I walked out to the wicket I was thinking I have to stay until the 20th over," said Shoaib. "Shahid was awesome today and all credit to him. I told him to stay at the wicket and I will get some runs, that we can finish the game.

He's a great cricketer." Afridi paid tribute to skipper Younis Khan. "I asked the captain to send me up the order and that's what he did," said Afridi. "He just said don't worry about anything, just go out and play your natural game. The guys were really motivated. The captain and coaches tell us to enjoy our cricket and entertain. That's great motivation.

" It was Sri Lanka's first defeat of the tournament, but skipper Kumar Sangakkara insisted his team will recover and become a better side. "I'm proud of the way we competed. We enjoy our cricket and I believe we can go forward from here," said Sangakkara. "We'll take this and come back stronger in next year's tournament. We have the best bowling unit in the world. "We'll get better, we'll learn. We look forward to getting tougher mentally and physically."

Pakistan, that strange, sad nation that never seems to deliver good news, earned the right on Sunday to a raucously united celebration for the first time in 17 years.

On a midsummer afternoon in London, the national cricket team won the World Twenty20 Cup, beating Sri Lanka before a packed house at Lord's by eight wickets with eight balls to spare.
It is a seemingly immutable Pakistani tradition that its cricketers should be either appalling or brilliant, never messing about in between.

In this fortnight-long tournament, they have given a vivid demonstration of this - losing abysmally in a qualifier to England, who themselves had lost to the part-timers from Holland.
This phenomenon was embodied by their all-rounder Shahid Afridi, who until Friday had forgotten how to hit the ball and then played two blazing match-winning innings to take Pakistan to the trophy, first over the favourites South Africa and then Sri Lanka.

Pakistan were chasing a sub-par total of 138 for six on Sunday. Twice there was just a hint that they might be struggling to keep up with the run rate against the varied and imaginative Sri Lankan attack. Twice Afridi blasted the ball over mid-wicket for six to loosen the bonds.

There was excitement, all right but not much tension. After scrambling the winning run, he splayed his arms and legs in a victory gesture of raw exuberance not often seen at Lord's. Most of the team then faced east, knelt and praised Allah.

Their win illustrated the point that the art of winning World Cups - in football, rugby, cricket or whatever - is like winning at Ascot. The horse that storms to the front early on is rarely there at the end.

Sri Lanka, unbeaten before the final, ran out of puff: Tillakaratne Dilshan, the inventive opening bat who was named man of the tournament, was out for a fifth-ball duck and from then on they struggled, collapsing to 70 for six before the captain, Kumar Sangakkara, led a partial recovery.
For Pakistan, Sri Lanka were just the fall-guys. They always have to beat their own demons to prevail, which they have done only once before in a sporting event on this scale - the 1992 World Cup.

But above all, they have to do better than India, winners of the first Twenty20 final in 2007 but also-rans this time. Most of their supporters' banners made the point: "Are you watching, India?" (Knowing Indian cricket fans, almost certainly not. They would rather watch the test card than a Pakistan win.)

On the longest day of the year, the shortest form of cricket should have produced a great finale to end a tournament that, after a terrible opening ceremony, turned into a much-admired success.

In fact, it was a double anti-climax. The women's final, served as an hors d'oeuvre, was even more one-sided: England won by six wickets after bowling New Zealand out for 85.
England are unquestionably the best in the world at women's cricket. There may be another sport where this supremacy is true, though the list is not a long one. And the decision to play the two competitions together has raised the status of the women's game.
Indeed, the Twenty20 format works well for them, bringing out their skills in a way that longer games do not.

For the top male cricketers, a 240-ball match is an entertainment rather than a genuine examination of their cricketing merits. This event has again proved popular, as it did on its debut in South Africa two years ago. But cricket administrators are bound to wreck a good idea by overkill: it's an addiction with them. There are already signs that the public's appetite is being tested. And it is best not to exaggerate its success. In Britain, Sky has claimed its best viewing figures since it acquired a monopoly of live cricket on British television four years ago. But the base figure was a low one and this Twenty20 event has come nowhere near matching the 2005 Ashes as the focal point of national conversation. You only get that from being on the free-to-air channels.

In Britain, Susan Boyle remains more famous than Shahid Afridi. But not in Karachi.

Not today.

By Matthew Engel

PAK vs SL, 21st Jun 2009



The Lord's: Pakistan captain Younus Khan announced his retirement from Twenty20 International cricket after leading his side to victory in the World Twenty20 Final at Lord's.
The 32-year-old waited until the end of his post-match press conference before dropping the bombshell, departing the scene without further elaboration.
Younus had earlier told the media throng of his delight in bringing some joy to a nation that has endured a difficult existence in recent times.
"Everybody knows, especially the players, that we needed a victory like that," said Younus. "Especially the World Cup, it's a big achievement for us and all credit goes to the boys and team management. I think it's a gift for the whole nation."
The right-handed batsman is hopeful his side's triumph - ultimately achieved through an eight-wicket victory against Sri Lanka on Sunday - will bring about a move to return international cricket to the country, a status that was revoked following the terrorist attack on Sri Lanka's cricketers in Lahore.
"Now we are champions - and everybody follows Twenty20 cricket these days - hopefully we will have some series or something like that," said Younus. "So I think that all of the countries must come to Pakistan. Everybody knows [the situation in Pakistan is] not good but it's not our [the players] fault. Youngsters, especially, need home series because if there is no cricket in Pakistan how can we motivate the youngsters, especially the school level and college level? So I think this will help to build us a new structure in Pakistan."
Pakistan's form going into the World Twenty20 had been poor - faring badly in the warm-up matches - and it hardly improved at the start of the tournament proper when they lost their first two games against established nations. Despite that, the outgoing skipper was always hopeful his side could prevail.
"Before the World Twenty20 I was chatting to the media and there were two or three teams [particularly] capable of reaching the last four - especially Pakistan and West Indies," said Younus. "And everybody thought I was mad. But I knew that Pakistan and West Indies had matchwinnners - especially in this form of the game - so I knew that if we reached our potential then we could reach the last four and then in the semis and final we would need our luck and the last two games we were lucky. That's why we won the World Cup."
And just a few minutes later Younus was gone - a happy, retiring, but never shy captain

PAK vs SL, 21st Jun 2009



The Lord's: Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by eight wickets to win the World Twenty20 Final at Lord's.
Shahid Afridi capped another fine all-round performance when he made 54 not out from 40 balls to follow 1-20 with the ball.
Sri Lanka had appeared to give themselves a fighting chance when they reached 138-6 having been 32-4 at one stage.
That was not to account for a highly professional batting effort in response as Pakistan got home with eight balls to spare.
Pakistan's reply got off to a contrasting start from their opponent as Kamran Akmal hammered Angelo Mathews's third ball through the covers for a boundary as eight were taken from the opening over.
Lasith Malinga immediately replaced Mathews at the Nursery End and he bowled a much tighter first over - conceding just one - as Pakistan were pegged back.
Isuru Udana's second over then tipped the balance in favour of the batting side as 14 were taken from it - though not all of the runs were scored convincingly.
That forced Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara to take the pace off the ball through spinners Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis.
Akmal greeted Mendis by depositing him over midwicket for six with the final now entering its pivotal phase.
The Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman carried on the attack to the Sri Lankan bowlers when he flicked Udana over midwicket for the second six of the innings.
With the situation reaching a critical position, the Sri Lankans made a belated breakthrough when Akmal's confidence got the better of him as he advanced down the track to Sanath Jayasuriya's first ball and was stumped for 37 (28 balls).
Pakistan continued to have the better of things against Mendis (who finished with 0-34) when his second over went for the 11 - including two perfectly timed boundaries by Shahzaib Hasan.
The opener was another to then suffer from a rush of blood when he top-edged a sweep off Muralitharan to short fine-leg at the start of the next over for 19.
Pakistan reached the halfway stage on 65-2, needing a further 74 from the last 10 overs.
Runs began to dry up - despite the presence of the big-hitting Afridi and Shoaib Malik at the crease - as the required rate hit eight for the first time at the start of the 13th over.
Clearly risks needed to be taken and Afridi was the right man for the moment - swinging Jayasuriya over midwicket for six and then cover-driving him for a boundary off the next ball.
Pakistan entered the last five overs on 103-2, needing another 36 from 30 balls.
With 19 runs needed from 14 balls, Afridi once again lifted the pressure on the batting side when he first swung Udana over midwicket for six and then tickled a no-ball to the leg-side boundary (bringing up his 50 off 37 balls in the process).
Just seven were then required off the last two overs and that equation was reduced to one from nine balls with Afridi fittingly on strike.
A leg bye was perhaps not the final flourish the batsman would have wished for but his joyous reaction at the end suggested he was not overly disappointed.
Afridi's partnership with Malik (24 not out) of 76 off 59 balls was an effort worthy of winning any one-day final.
Sri Lanka's earlier effort, after winning the toss, had centred around Sangakkara, who top-scored with 64 not out (off 52 balls) as the batting side recovered well following a disastrous start to their innings.
Mohammad Aamer opened up at the Pavilion End with a menacing wicket maiden, peppering Tillakaratne Dilshan with a succession of short-pitched deliveries before removing him off the fifth ball.
The right-hander attempted a pull but could only find Shahzaib at short fine-leg, who took a comfortable catch.
Disaster struck again for the Sri Lankans in the second over when Jehan Mubarak, elevated up the order, was removed by Abdul Razzaq for a second-ball duck. The left-hander got a leading edge, as he looked to work the ball to leg, and skied a second catch to Shahzaib, this time in the extra cover position.
Aamer didn't concede a run until his ninth ball, but then two boundaries came off successive deliveries from the bat of Sangakkara.
Jayasuriya struck the first six of the innings when he pulled Razzaq over midwicket at the start of the fourth over.
Razzaq got ample revenge off the fifth ball of the over, however, when Jayasuriya (17) edged a cut-shot onto his stumps.
Mahela Jayawardena (1) became Razzaq's third victim when he steered the ball into the hands of Misbah-ul-Haq standing in a second slip position.
Sri Lanka ended the Powerplay on a lamentable 34-4.
There was no let-up from Pakistan as that heralded the entry of spin duo Afridi and Saeed Ajmal into the attack - both among the seven leading wicket-takers in the tournament going into the final.
Malik replaced Ajmal at the Nursery End for the 10th over, at which point Chamara Silva swept the off-spinner for a boundary to bring up the 50.
Umar Gul then, in turn, replaced Malik as the anticipated arrival of the seamer was delayed no more. As has become a common theme, Gul's impact was instant as he removed Silva (14) with his third legitimate delivery when the batsman pulled tamely to midwicket.
Afridi continued the rout when he bowled Udana with a googly for one.
Sri Lanka went into the last five overs on 79-6 - with Sangakkara their last hope of posting a defendable total.
The left-hander brought up his half-century (44 balls) with a flick off his legs to the boundary that just evaded the leap of Shazaib at midwicket.
Sangakkara was assisted by Mathews (35 not out off 24 balls) in a stand of 68 for the sixth-wicket as 59 were accumulated from the last five overs to give Sri Lanka some hope with their potent bowling attack now required to pull one last rabbit out of the hat.
Alas, for them, it was not to be as Pakistan claim a victory that will not only constitute ample consolation for losing the inaugural World Twenty20 Final, in 2007, but also salvage some lost pride to a nation ravaged by recent terrorist attacks.
Now the world thinks of cricket when it thinks of Pakistan.