Pakistan ICC T20 World Champions

South Africa remained unbeaten and lost in the semi final. Sri Lanka remained unbeaten and lost in the final. And, Pakistan struggled from the word go and became the ICC T20 World Champions beating Sri Lanka by 8 wickets on June 21, 2009 at Lords, England.

Placed in a group with England and Netherlands, Pakistan lost to England in the opening match and skipper Younus Khan was scathingly criticized for his laid back remark of Twenty20 cricket being 'fun cricket'. Either the criticism or his body language worked wonders and there was no turning back.

Shahid Afridi, one key all-rounder for Pakistan who had been in indifferent form, clicked at the right time in both bowling and batting along with Umer Gul who began to bowl brilliantly. Old war horse Abdul Razzak was recalled to join the team and he flourished with his all-round abilities. Inspired by Younus Khan's positive and almost loving body language Pakistan qualified for Super 8 as Group B toppers by beating giant killer Netherlands convincingly.

At the Super 8 stage Pakistan struggled again losing to Sri Lanka, but then came strongly to beat New Zealand and Ireland to storm into the semi finals. In the first semi final on June 18, 2009 Pakistan teamed up perfectly to edge past the hot favorites and so far unbeaten South Africa by 7 runs.

At the mega final at Lords on June 21, 2009 Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first. With an intense bowling attack a target of around 150 runs seemed to be enough for Sri Lanka. But an inspired Pak bowling reduced Sri Lanka to 76 for 6 at one stage. Skipper Sangakara's unbeaten 64 helped Sri Lanka set a target of 139 runs which was considered to be a competitive one.

Opener Kamran Akmal's aggressive 37 and Afridi's unbeaten 54 helped Pakistan to overhaul the target in 18.3 overs with 8 wickets standing. And Pakistan, the runners up of T20 World Cup 2007 against India, created history by becoming the new T20 world champions.

For a country ravaged by terror and traumatized by the Taliban and deprived of cricket since the Lahore terror attack on the visiting Sri Lankan team in March 2009, this hard earned cricket victory would definitely cheer up the people there. This historic victory would definitely pump them up with patriotic vigor to put up a brave front against the real challenges.

And, Team India too could learn a precious lesson or two from Pakistan's exemplary team efforts and positive body language.