Pakistan Wins ICC World T20: Revenge of the Disbelieved

(Photo by Julian Herbert/Getty Images)

Before I start out, let me just say that a World Cup tournament just ended and there is absolutely nothing on B/R to denote that a World Cup final was even played. Cricket Community, please wake up!

So I decided to take matters into my own hands, and relay the journey of a national team of misfits towards becoming a national team of world-beaters.

As a nation, Pakistan has had to endure much more than its fair share of woes on the geo-political and economic fronts in recent times. Pakistan's sports teams and players have also not been doing too well, and the nation as a whole has continued to endure a miserable last couple of years.

Sri Lanka, Pakistan's opponent in the World T20 final, faced similar circumstances. Sri Lanka has also had to go through a demoralizing civil war, the reverberations of which are bound to be felt for years to come.

However, on to the cricket itself. The match did have several twists and turns, especially in the first half, but thankfully for Pakistani fans, didn't develop into the nail-biter that has come to be associated with this unpredictable team of talents.

Right from the first over of the Sri Lankan innings (SL had won the toss and chose to bat), it seemed that Pakistan was definitely a team of destiny, driven by the desire to bring smiles to a nation in the throes of an abyss.

The planning was immaculate (is this seriously a Pakistan cricket team we're talking about?), and Pakistan relied more on its collective cricket brain rather than leaving things to be decided by the x-factor of flair.

Tilikeratne Dilshan was rattled from ball-one, and seemed to be looking for an excuse to get out. 17-year old Mohammed Aamir bowled his most perfect over in the 2009 World T20, and it turned out to be a wicket-maiden.

Dilshan, the tournament's top scorer and improviser extraordinaire, was left with no answer to the pinpoint accuracy of Aamir's back-of-a-length deliveries. He tamely succumbed to a catch at short fine leg (0-1).

In what seemed a slightly panicky move, Sri Lanka promoted pinch-hitter Jehan Mubarak to No. 3, and he could not last till the end of even the second over.

In an effort to unsettle the bowler by shimmying around the crease, he only managed to sky an easy chance to the cover fielder off a resurgent Abdul Razzaq (2-2). Clearly a case of trying to be oversmart when the occasion called for a bit of consolidation.

Jayasuriya, the evergreen soon-to-be-40 opening batsman, tried to take matters into his own hands but fell to an inside edge caroming into his stumps (23-3). The delight on the face of the felled Abdul Razzaq told the story. Pakistan were tightening their grip on the match each over.

And then in the last over before the end of the batting powerplay, Razzaq effectively sealed the epitaph on the grave of Sri Lanka's middle order. Mahela Jayawerdene the dismissed batsman this time, giving catching practice to Misbah-ul-Haq in the slips (32-4).

Pakistan's ever-reliable spin twins, Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal, dried up the runs. In the 12th over, captain Younus Khan turned to his pace spearhead Umar Gul. Gul picked up Chamara Silva with a simple catch to mid-wicket.

Then Shahid Afridi, in his last over, got the reward he richly deserved by ending Isuru Udana's tortured stay at the crease to leave Sri Lanka reeling at 70-6.

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