The final of second ICC World Twenty20 championship was played between Sri Lanka and Pakistan. It was 2nd consecutive final appearance for the Men in Green as they appeared in 2007 world cup final in South Africa and lost it against India. 2009’s wt20 final was hosted at Lord’s in London, England.
Sri Lanka had great team combination and was looking favorites to clinch the trophy. SL won crucial toss in this final and chose to bat first. Openers Tillakaratne Dilshan and Sanath Jayasuriya came to bat with big hopes from Sri Lankan camp. But Dilshan failed and returned to pavilion without scoring a single run. Jehan Mubarak was sent to score some quick runs but this decision of team management was completely flopped as Mubarak out for a duck.
Experienced Kumar Sangakkara joined Jayasuriya in the middle and veteran opener started to hit the ball. But Jayasiruya couldn’t score more than 17 runs and he was sent to pavilion by Abdul Razzaq who had great start in the match as bowler. Kumar Sangakkara was batting sensibly at one end but his partners were leaving him alone on the ground.
Mahela Jayawardene, Chamara Silva and Isuru Udana couldn’t score much runs and Sri Lankan team was totally dependent on Sangakkara and Angelo Matthews. The left handed Kumar didn’t disappoint his fans and scored much required 64 in 52 balls. Matthews hit quick runs and made 35 in 14 balls to take team at respectable total. Sri Lanka made 138 runs in 20 overs for the loss of 6 wickets.
It wasn’t difficult target in terms of game prospects and also for Pakistan batting line-up. Kamran Akmal and Shahzaib Hasan gave good start to Pak. Both openers were dealing in fours and sixes. Hasan got dismissed on 19 runs individual score. Pakistan captain made everyone surprised by sending Shahid Afridi at number 3.
Shahid was playing calm inning whereas Akmal was smashing the ball. Sanath Jayasuriya gave one more hope to Sri Lanka when he dismissed Akmal on 37. Now Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi were having huge responsibility to take Pakistan on winning node. Afridi began to exploit Lankan bowling attack and Malik was given the role to spend time on wicket.
Check more: 2009 wt20 final scorecard
Shahid Afridi scored the brilliant half century to guide Pakistan first ICC World Twenty20 trophy. He made unbeaten 54 in 40 balls with the help of 2 fours and two sixes. Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by 8 wickets to win 2009 T20 world cup. Afridi was named Man of the match for his match winning inning.
