Resurgent Pakistan see off Tigers for title.

"A game for the people, if ever there was one", Ian Bishop said. With recent political events in both countries, today's World Twenty20 final would be contested between two teams aiming not only to take the trophy for cricket's most popular tournament, but to bring some kind of peace to their respective countries. The national anthems had an added speciality and touch to them. The calm before the storm, as Twenty20 is so often described.

Sri Lanka won the toss, and unsurprisingly on a flat looking Lords pitch, chose to bat first. However the much hyped Sri Lankan top order failed to fire. Mohammad Aamer's hostile first over did for Tillakeratne Dilshan. Four 90mph short balls rattled the tournament's leading run scorer and his short innings at the crease came to an end with the fifth ball of the first over. Once again, Aamer banged the ball into the surface, getting considerable bounce for a short man, forcing Dilshan to ride it onto the leg side where he was well caught by Shahzaib Hasan. A disastrous start for Sri Lanka got even worse minutes later. The wiley Abdul Razzaq, plucked back from obscurity took charge of Jehan Mubarak's (0) wicket. Mubarak, promoted to number 3 for the first time in the tournament saw off just one ball before swinging across the line to a wide one and finding the safe hands of Shahzaib once again. Sri Lanka at this point 2-2, half way through the second over. Despite the early wickets of Dilshan and Mubarak, both for ducks, Sanath Jayasuriya played in his usual manner, clattering the ball onto the leg side, hitting a flat six of Razzaq. Razzaq came back well however - Noted for his accurate line and length bowling, he stuck to his guns and managed to find the inside edge of Jayasuriya's hefty bat, and the ball crashed into the stumps, adding to Sri Lanka's woes, and reducing the score to 26-3 in the fourth over. The classy Mahela Jayawardene was thrust early into the drama but succumbed to Razzaq as well, chasing a wide one and guiding it into Misbah ul-Haq's hands at slip. Sri Lanka were left wondering whether 100 would be a decent score from this position, and the Lords crowd left wondering whether they should have stayed at home to watch an anticlimactic final on television. Thankfully for them, and for Sri Lanka, Kumar Sangakkara was at the other end while all the early drama unravelled. Sangakkara has a reputation for being one of the coolest, calmest batsman in world cricket, and if ever there was a time for that reputation to be upheld, it was today. His classy strokeplay, coupled with clever innovation and crisp timing enabled Sri Lanka to recover, with a little help from Chamara Silva, who briefly threatened to make his first score of the tournament. However, just as the partnership was getting going, Silva fell to the tournament's leading wicket taker, Umar Gul, who was intent on bowling a short length to Silva, rather than the customary toe-crushers we'd seen throughout the competition. Gul rushed the little right hander into playing a pull stroke that he never had control over, and Saeed Ajmal at short mid-wicket held comfortably. 67-5, and into the lower-order. Isuru Udana made the move up a place to number 7, infront of the hard-hitting Angelo Mathews. One assumes in a ploy to keep Mathews til the latter overs. It didn't make much difference in the end, as Udana was undone by a perfectly delivered Afridi googly. By this time the score had moved onto 70-6, and any hopes of reaching 110/120 were down to Kumar Sangakkara. Or so it seemed.. Angelo Mathews (35 off 24 balls) played his innings of the tournament, in a brilliant partnership (68 off 43 balls) with the captain Sangakkara. He took his time at the start of his innings to guage his timing and hone the boundaries, but after that he hit some lusty blows, including the first six since the fourth over. Mathews hitting, along with Umar Gul's unusually misplaced yorkers allowed Sri Lanka to creep to a score well above anything they expected, nor pakistan wanted after being 70-6 in the 12th over. 138-6 seemed too low a score, and with Pakistan's talent with the bat, looked like they'd have to bowl out of their skins to claim the title. The warning for Sri Lanka, as suggested by one fan, was "be Afridi, be very Afridi".

Pakistan's innings got off to a good start. Angelo Mathews, who had had a good day with the bat, offered Kamran Akmal the perfect chance to get off the mark with a floated half volley outside off-stump third ball of the innings. Akmal duly obliged and timed the ball to the boundary with complete ease and confidence. Akmal's form at the top of the order had been decent for Pakistan, but he had yet to make a really big contribution that would answer the few critics he has. It only took Sangakkara two overs before he introduced his first trump card, in the form of Lasith Malinga. His first over went for just one, but there were no immediate alarms. The very next over, Shahzaib Hasan got away with a sliced drive over cover, just evading the full-stretch dive of Angelo Mathews running back. The very next ball, he sneaked an inside edge past short fine leg for four. It seemed to be Pakistan's day. Spin was introduced after just four overs, with Muttiah Muralidaran and Ajantha Mendis both coming into the attack in an attempt to bamboozle the inexperienced Pakistani openers. The plan did not work as Akmal slapped Mendis over mid-wicket for a lengthy six, followed by a delicate paddle sweep for a couple. Pakistan had taken 39 off the first six overs and seemed in complete control. While Akmal was crunching the ball to all parts, Shahzaib was struggling with his timing and placement. Akmal smashed Mathews over mid-wicket for six more, before running past a straight one from Sanath Jayasuriya first ball. The breakthrough coming at just the right time for Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, the Tigers were only to have one more success. It was a matter of time before Shahzaib got himself out, and indeed in the 10th over he top edged a sweep off Muttiah Muralitharan that was easily caught by Sanath Jayasuriya. From here on in, Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik eased Pakistan home. Some elegant strokes from Malik, in tandem with the brutal power of Afridi was too much for the Sri Lankan bowlers, however good they are, and Isuru Udana's final over rather summed up Sri Lanka's day - Lacklustre. His first ball was launched for six by the man they call 'boom boom', and the second, a waist high full toss (called a no-ball) was glanced down the leg side for four leaving 7 required off 2 overs. As the winning runs were hit, fittingly by Afridi, emotions ran high. It had been a tough year for Pakistan, but this was certainly a big high for them. The whole world will be taking note that Pakistan are a resillient side, who stick together, and have come out as World Twenty20 champions.