Pakistan won the second edition of the ICC World T20 by beating Sri Lanka in a rather lop-sided finals at the Mecca of cricket, Lord’s. Pakistan bowled and fielded aggressively to restrict Sri Lanka to 138-6.
Sri Lanka batted first and got to 138/6 in their twenty overs after having had a bad start, but were upstaged by an excellent inning by Shahid Afridi hit an unbeaten 54 off 40 balls, his second consecutive half-century won him the Man-of-the-match award, and former captain Shoaib Malik made 24 not out during a match-winning partnership of 76 for the undefeated third wicket.
It must be remembered that Pakistan had lost the finals of the last ICC World T20 tournament to India, and has come back well to win it for their country.
Sri Lanka Tillakaratne Dilshan failed in the final, but his tournament returns of 317 from seven matches, at 52.83, inclusive of three half-centuries, earned him title of player of the tournament.
The tournament's top wicket-taker Umar Gul, introduced in the 12th over, needed just three deliveries to claim a wicket. Chamara Silva, who had scored 14 from 19 deliveries, mistimed a pull shot, hitting it straight to Saeed Ajmal at midwicket. (67-5, 11.3).
The International Cricket Council has already ruled out holding World Cup matches in Pakistan in 2011 following the militant attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore on March 3.
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