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Brilliant triumph brings joy for stressed nation

By Muhammad Ali

Pakistan entered the Twenty20 World Cup in England as ‘rusty underdogs’. They had not played enough international cricket since the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in 2007. Their physiological level and morale were down after the Sri Lanka cricket team bus was attacked by a bunch of terrorists on March 3 near the Gaddafi Stadium. The attack prompted the International Cricket Council (ICC) to take away Pakistan’s hosting rights for 14 matches of the 2011 World Cup. Before this, Pakistan has become the pariah of world cricket after being shunned by foreign teams due to security concerns that forced the Champions Trophy shifted out of the country.

But lady-luck gave Pakistan, runners-up to India in South Africa two years ago, an opportunity to banish some of the demons from the last World Cup in the Caribbean and unfortunate happenings at home and show the cricket world that they are still a force to reckon with. Pakistan kept their unpredictability tag intact and defeated the men from Pearl Island by 8 wickets on Sunday at Lord’s to claim the coveted title that they were longing for so desperately. Sri Lanka, who have been the model of consistency in the tournament, were caught off guard by aggressive tactics. This big triumph, came after 17 years with first one in 1992, has not only given fans something to cheer about but also brought happiness on people’s faces who are facing a tough time due to the restive political situation in the country and the expanding terror threats.

Cricket has always been a big binding force in the country and the team’s success in the Twenty20 World Cup has helped lift the spirits of the people. The last few months have been very hard for the people and many of us carry psychological scars of the innocent lives lost in the terrorist attacks. But for now we have something to celebrate and look forward to. The victory also gave a clear message to terrorists that cricket cannot be stopped or halted. It will go on, whether in Pakistan or abroad. Pakistan played the final in a brilliant manner. Their performance was clinical and there were no mistakes. Shahid Afridi, who guided his team home in the 19th over with an unbeaten 54, showed why he has so match fan following. The destination of the trophy was sealed when he swung a huge six over midwicket off Isuru Udana in the 18th over.

After losing the warm-up matches against archrivals India and South Africa, most of the critics had written Pakistan off. But the green shirts bounced back twice over to keep their hopes alive. Younis Khan and his men lost their opening preliminary match against England, but then thrashed minnows the Netherlands to advance to the Super Eight. There was another defeat in the second round against Sri Lanka, but Pakistan came back strongly to defeat New Zealand in a key game before overpowering Ireland to make the semi-finals. Pakistan may have had one of the easier routes to the semi-finals but they had the worst twenty-four months of any team.

In the last four stage, Pakistan were yet to win a game against significant opposition. Their players hadn’t contributed collectively and so it was unlikely all 11 players would maximise potential against opponents as able as South Africa. To have a hope of playing in the final, Pakistan needed individual brilliance from one of their match-winners: Umar Gul, Younis, or perhaps Misbahul Haq. Instead, it came from Afridi. The win against a strong team like South Africa came as a shot in the arm for Pakistan cricket. Despite winning a record seven consecutive Twenty20 matches, South Africa were constricted through the middle stages of their innings and eventually fell seven runs short of Pakistan’s relatively modest 149 for 4.

Eleven supremely fit and ruthlessly efficient cricketers, on top of their game, had their dreams of a first-ever world title ended by one audacious man. That cricket is a team game is an oft repeated cliché but the Proteas were eliminated from the event solely because of Afridi’s intensity and all-round skill. South Africa once again proved that they are ‘chokers’. This crushing sense of loss of so many reverses – 1996, 1999, 2003 and 2007 World Cups, the roadblocks of Champions Trophy and now two successive Twenty20 World Cups – must have taken a toll on the Proteas psyche.

Still, there should be some disappointment that Pakistan failed to post bigger totals and their fielding was abysmal. The current batting approach is short of ingenuity and invention, which is something of a surprise. Though Misbah, usually the prime architect of unusual strokeplay, was unable to discover his touch, his teammates Abdul Rzaaaq, Kamran Akmal, Younis and Afridi led from the front in crunch games, and above all Pakistan’s bowling proved formidable through out the tournament. The unsung heroes came to the fore. Fast bowler Umar Gul, whose world record-breaking spell against New Zealand has been tarnished by thinly veiled accusations of ball-tampering, and off spinner Saeed Ajmal displayed their excellence with Afridi proving critical for Pakistan in the middle overs. Pacer Mohammed Aamer showed that he is improving with every outing and could become a truly special bowler for Pakistan. Encouragingly, Pakistan are increasing their intensity and finding a team formula that is better suited to Twenty20 cricket. The skipper urged his teammates to win it for their late coach Bob Woolmer. They did just that, and for themselves and their country.

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