Shahid Afridi rewarded by man of the match for his 54 runs innings in 52 balls, and TM Dilshan rewarded by man of the series for  his outstanding performance accross the tournament

Pakistan won their first major title in 17 years when they stunned Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the World Twenty20 final at a sell-out Lord’s here on Sunday.

Seamer Abdul Razzaq claimed three wickets as Pakistan bowled and fielded aggressively to restrict Sri Lanka to 138-6, then coasted home easily with eight deliveries to spare.

Shahid Afridi hit an unbeaten 54 off 40 balls, his second consecutive half-century, and former captain Shoaib Malik made 24 not out during a match-winning partnership of 76 for the undefeated third wicket.

Pakistan, runners-up to India in the final of the inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa two years ago, ended Sri Lanka’s unbeaten run in the tournament with style.

Pakistan last won an official multi-nation tournament in 1992 when Imran Khan’s team lifted the World Cup by beating England in the final at the Melbourne cricket ground in Australia.

Sunday’s win by Younus Khan’s team gave Pakistanis back home reason to cheer as the cricket-mad nation has been deprived of international tours due to security concerns in the volatile nation.

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.

Pakistani openers Kamran Akmal and Shahzaib Hasan ensured there were no early scares as they put on 48 for the first wicket in seven overs.

Sanath Jayasuriya broke through with his first delivery in the next over when he beat Akmal in the air with his left-arm spin and had him stumped for 37 off 28 balls.

Jayasuriya then took a catch to get rid of Shahzaib off Muttiah Muralitharan for 19, but Afridi and Malik took Pakistan home amid loud celebrations from their fans in the stands.

Sri Lanka were dealt quick blows after captain Kumar Sangakkara won the toss and elected to take first strike on a slow wicket.

The Lankans slumped to 2-2 in the first nine balls and that became 34-4 before Sangakkara himself led the rescue act with a defiant unbeaten 64 from 52 balls.

Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews put on 68 for the unbroken seventh wicket as Sri Lanka plundered 59 runs in the final five overs.

Mathews returned unbeaten on 35 off 24 balls.

Pakistan got off to a sensational start when teenage fast bowler Mohammad Aamir sent back the in-form Tillekaratne Dilshan with the fifth ball of the match.

Dilshan, the tournament’s leading scorer with 317 runs, miscued a pull shot off the speedy left-armer and was caught at backward square-leg by Shahzaib Hasan for zero.

Four balls later, Shahzaib grabbed his second catch at mid-off as Jehan Mubarak skied a leading edge off Razzaq, who shared the new ball with Aamir.

Jayasuriya counter-attacked with a six and four in Razzaq’s second over, but the bowler hit back two balls later as the left-handed veteran edged a ball on to his stumps after making 17.

Razzaq, who replaced the injured Yasir Arafat after ending his links with the rebel Indian Cricket League, struck again in his third over when Misbah-ul Haq dived to his right at slip to remove Mahela Jayawardene for one.

ICC world cup twenty20 4th match played between India V/s Bangladesh India won by 25 runs.

Yuvraj Singh dazzled with the bat before Pragyan Ojha spun a web around Bangladesh as India thumped the minnows by 25 runs to begin their title defence with a bang in the Twenty20 World Cup here on Saturday.

Ojha’s four-wicket haul in his maiden Twenty20 International broke Bangladesh’s back as the minnows finished at 155 for eight, a total they owe to Junaid Siddique (41) and Naeem Islam (28).

Earlier, Gautam Gambhir (50) and Rohit Sharma (36) gave India a rollicking start but it was Yuvraj’s violent 18-ball 41 that propelled them to 180 for five in the Group A opener.

Chasing 181, Bangladesh began on a positive note with Tamim Iqbal (15) hitting Zaheer Khan for two successive fours and Junaid (41 off 22 balls) pulling Irfan Pathan for a six.

M S Dhoni introduced Yusuf Pathan and it paid off as the duo collaborated to get Tamim stumped in the third over.

Junaid looked unperturbed as he scored at a brisk rate, hitting sixes off the Pathan brothers — Yusuf and Irfan –and Harbhajan Singh.

Unfortunately, wickets kept tumbling at the other end. Mohammad Ashraful (11) fell to Ishant Sharma and then Pragyan Ojha struck twice in his first over to unhinge Bangladesh.

Shakib Al Hasan (8) top edged Ojha’s first delivery to Dhoni and then Junaid holed out in the deep as Bangladesh slumped to 77 for four.

Yuvraj took a stunner to remove Mahmudullah (8) and by then, the writing was clear on the wall for Bangladesh and their defeat was just a matter of time.

Earlier, Bangladesh groaned under the late assault by the Indians who finished with 180 for five.

Sixes rained off the Indian bats in the final four overs as the defending champions looted 59 runs from the final four overs.

Yuvraj was in the thick of it, repeatedly smashing sixes in his favoured midwicket zone and finishing with 41 from 18 balls with three fours and four sixes.

The Indians apparently played to a plan with opener Gautam Gambhir holding one end up (50 off 44 balls), Rohit Sharma (36 off 23 balls) leading the carnage, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (26) staying put and then the late assault by Yuvraj, propelling India to its eventual score.

With Virender Sehwag nursing an injured shoulder, Rohit walked out along with Gambhir and played with the gay abandon that has become his wont.

The Bangla pacers soon discovered that enthusiasm alone was not enough to silence the swashbuckling Indian openers who scored almost at will.

To make it worse for them, lady luck too smiled on India as they reached 50 in no time, vindicating Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s decision to bat first.

In an eventful fourth over from Shahadat Hossain, Raqibul Hasan dropped Gambhir at point and then Rohit’s flick brushed an airborne Mashrafe Mortaza’s finger before clearing the ropes.

Soon came the shot that has become Rohit’s trademark and class was written all over it when Rohit smote Rubel Hossain over midwicket for a soaring six.

Shakib Al Hasan almost had Rohit with his first delivery but Mushfiqur Rahim fluffed an easy stumping opportunity. The left-arm spinner got his man with the next one that got the better of Rohit’s defence.

Dhoni stepped into the middle and looked to consolidate and so did it appear to be Gambhir’s intention. The progress was slow and at 121 for two in the 16th over, it seemed as if India had left the charge too late in the day.

But Yuvraj showed his team knew exactly what it was doing.

Off-spinner Naeem Islam bore the brunt of his assault, going for three sixes in mid-wicket region and conceding 19 runs in the over.

Medium-pacer Rubel Hossain too was caught up in the firing in the next, going for 15 as Yuvraj hit a six and two fours in succession.

The elegant left-hander eventually fell in the 19th over to Shakib but India carried on in the same vein, crossing the 175-mark.

Chris Gayle’s men have had a torrid time during their tour of England and have been accused of lacking commitment, but they showed all their quality with bat and ball.

West Indies made early inroads with the ball but allowed Australia to get up off the floor and post 169/7.

It looked a competitive total, but the impressive Oval pitch provided the perfect platform for Gayle to rediscover his touch with the bat and he guided his side to victory inside 16 overs.

West Indies made a superb start as Jerome Taylor had Shane Watson caught at cover by Ramnaresh Sarwan and then knocked over Ricky Ponting.

Fidel Edwards turned the screw as Michael Clarke fell to a catch from Sulieman Benn – leaving Australia at 15/3.

Australia required a partnership and David Warner and Brad Haddin provided it. Warner is a renowned Twenty20 performer and he played some superb shots in his 63 from 53 balls.

He was aided by Haddin in a partnership of 66, before Benn took his third catch to remove Haddin.

David Hussey added some momentum with a 16-ball 27 and 28 not out from Mike Hussey took Australia to 169/7.

Although West Indies did let Australia off the hook somewhat, they at long last showed some form on the tour and the momentum continued with the bat.

Gayle and Andre Fletcher tore into the top-class pace attack that is Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson.

Lee charged in and sent the ball down at 94mph, but on the fantastic Oval wicket it was to Gayle’s liking and he smashed arguably the world’s fastest bowler for 27 in his third over.

Gayle smashed the ball to all parts of The Oval, on a couple of occasions out of the ground as well, and aided by Fletcher they took the game away from Australia.

The partnership was broken at 133, as Fletcher fell to a short ball from Watson for a well made 53, but the damage had already been done.

Gayle fell to Lee having made 88 with the victory target in sight, but West Indies eased home with over four overs to spare.

In a match reduced by rain to just seven overs per side, Scotland made an impressive 89 for four thanks to rapid innings from Kyle Coetzer (33) and Ryan Watson and Navdeep Poonia, who both made 27.But in the end their bowling could not quite match their batting with the Kiwis getting home with an over to spare.That meant they avoided the embarrassment suffered by hosts England, beaten by the Netherlands in Friday’s tournament opener at Lord’s, of losing to a minor cricket nation.

Brendon McCullum, captaining in place of the injured Daniel Vettori, began the pursuit of the 90 New Zealand needed by striking four fours from Calum McLeod as 19 runs in all came off the first over.Jesse Ryder continued the assault by launching Craig Wright for two huge sixes. But after a run of four successive boundaries, the left-hander holed out to McLeod off Wright.Then 51 for one became 59 for two when McCullum was run out for 18 after a huge mix-up with Taylor.

Jacob Oram was given a reprieve when Gordon Drummond dropped a miscued effort and knocked the ball on four. But next delivery the giant all-rounder holed out off Watsom whose lone over cost just four runs.That left New Zealand 68 for three.Each ‘dot ball’ was cheered to the echo by a crowd keen to witness an upset.

New Zealand got the target down to 22 off 12 balls but then scored the runs they needed in just one over from medium-pacer Stander, who had two sixes scored off him by Taylor and one by Scott Styris.Scotland made a blistering start with the bat.They plundered 18 runs off the first over with Zimbabwe born and South Africa raised Watson striking four fours off Iain O’Brien.He began first ball with a top-edged hook and, after two leg-byes, followed up with a couple of pulls before a straight drive also went to the boundary.But he eventually holed out off Ian Butler’s first ball to Taylor in the covers.New batsman Kyle Coetzer kept the tempo high with a superb off-driven six against medium-pacer Ryder and next ball followed that up with a four.At the end of the fifth over Scotland were 67 for one.Poonia then leg-glanced Oram for four and next ball hoisted him for an enormous six over mid-wicket.

But Scotland lost three wickets off successive balls in the last over of their innings from seamer Ian Butler, who finished with three wickets for 19 runs from his two overs.

New Zealand squad
DL Vettori*, NT Broom, IG Butler, BJ Diamanti, JEC Franklin, MJ Guptill, BB McCullum†, NL McCullum, PD McGlashan, KD Mills, IE O’Brien, JDP Oram, JD Ryder, SB Styris, LRPL Taylor

Scotland squad
GM Hamilton*, RD Berrington, KJ Coetzer, GD Drummond, RM Haq, NFI McCallum, CS MacLeod, JD Nel, NS Poonia, GA Rogers, CJO Smith†, JH Stander, RR Watson, DF Watts, CM Wright

Australia squad
RT Ponting*, MJ Clarke, NW Bracken, BJ Haddin†, NM Hauritz, BW Hilfenhaus, JR Hopes, DJ Hussey, MEK Hussey, MG Johnson, B Lee, PM Siddle, DA Warner, SR Watson, CL White

West Indies squad
CH Gayle*, D Ramdin, LS Baker, SJ Benn, DE Bernard, DJ Bravo, S Chanderpaul, FH Edwards, ADS Fletcher, XM Marshall, KA Pollard, DJG Sammy, RR Sarwan, LMP Simmons, JE Taylor

Bangladesh squad

Mohammad Ashraful*, Abdur Razzak, Junaid Siddique, Mahmudullah, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mithun Ali, Mushfiqur Rahim†, Naeem Islam, Raqibul Hasan, Rubel Hossain, Shahadat Hossain, Shamsur Rahman, Shakib Al Hasan, Syed Rasel, Tamim Iqbal

India squad

MS Dhoni, V Sehwag, G Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, RA Jadeja, Z Khan, P Kumar, PP Ojha, IK Pathan, YK Pathan, SK Raina, I Sharma, RG Sharma, RP Singh, Yuvraj Singh

Hosts England suffered an embarrassing upset in the opening match of the World T20 tournament, losing to the Netherlands by four wickets at Lord’s on Friday.

Chasing England’s competitive score of 162 for 5, the Dutch were home off the last delivery of the match following an overthrow that fetched them two runs.

The 500-1 tournament outsiders batted with spirit and initiative while England panicked in the field, missing several run-out chances in treacherous conditions after light drizzle had forced the opening ceremony to be cancelled.

Seven runs were needed from the final over bowled by Stuart Broad and two from the last delivery.

Edgar Schiferli got his bat to ball off the last delivery and set off for a run, even as the ball travelled to the bowler. Broad did well to collect and hurl the ball at the stumps at the bowler’s end, but missed and the batsmen raced for two to secure a famous victory.

It was man of the match Tom De Grooth who led the Netherlands’ run chase, scoring 49 from 30 deliveries, inclusive of six fours and one of his team’s four sixes. He was well-supported by Ryan ten Doeschate, who scored an unbeaten 22 off 17 balls, inclusive of two fours.

None of the England batsmen could clear the boundary.

Earlier, Luke Wright hit a blazing 71 and shared a 102-run opening partnership with Ravi Bopara (46), but England’s lack of power hitters was exposed after Bopara departed and only 38 runs were scored off the last five overs.

Put in to bat, openers Bopara and Wright laid a strong foundation for a big score but England, without the services of former captain Kevin Pietersen, who had to sit out of the match because of an Achilles injury, lost quick wickets and the plot in the end.

Once Bopara was dismissed in the 12th over, England struggled to forge partnerships. While their first 100 runs was raised in 11 overs, they could score just 62 runs in the subsequent overs.

Ryan ten Doeschate, who dismissed both Bopara and Wright, was the most successful bowler for the Netherlands, giving away 35 runs in his four overs.

Bopara provided an apt start to the second edition of the T20 World Cup by hitting the first ball of the slam-bang event for a boundary off Dirk Nannes.

Luke Wright and Bopara in fact gave England a decent, if not spectacular, start, hitting boundaries with ease and rotating the strike and keeping the scoreboard ticking.

The duo raised 50 runs within first six overs even though runs were not easy to come by under the conditions.

As the innings progressed, stroke-making became easier and two batsmen got involved in a sort of battle to outscore each other.

The Dutch bowlers bore the brunt of this competition between the English batsmen, as the scoreboard read 89 without loss at half-way mark.

Left-arm spinner Pieter Seelaar was only the bowler who left some impact on them with an intriguing spell in the first-half of the innings.

But it was Doetschate who stemmed the rot by sending back Bopara, who went for maximum, miscued the shot and ended up in the hands of Seelaar.

Owais Shah(5) joined Wright in the middle but only to return early. Wright completed his half-century but the twin-blow put the brakes on the scoring rate.

The stage was set for a massive score but suddenly the Dutch began dominating, as Eoin Morgan (6) and skipper Paul Collingwood(11) too started their walk back to dug-out.

Wright kept one end for some time but as pressure mounted to get some runs, he tried to break the shackles and got out though not before hitting eight fours in his 49-ball knock.

PD Collingwood*, JM Anderson, RS Bopara, SCJ Broad, JS Foster†, RWT Key, AD Mascarenhas, EJG Morgan, GR Napier, KP Pietersen, AU Rashid, OA Shah, RJ Sidebottom, GP Swann, LJ Wright

Netherlands squad

J Smits, PW Borren, Mudassar Bukhari, TN de Grooth, TJG Gruijters, MMA Jonkman, AN Kervezee, DP Nannes, DJ Reekers, E Schiferli, PM Seelaar, ES Szwarczynski, RN ten Doeschate, DLS van Bunge, B Zuiderent

Both India and South Africa have eight left-handed specialists in their squad of 15 which leaves their right-handed brethrens in the minority.

History shows that left-handed cricketers have unfailingly ruled the roost in this treacherous format, be it the Indian Premier League (IPL) or the first edition of the ICC World Twenty20 in 2007.

The recent IPL was topped by Matthew Hayden (572 runs) and Adam Gilchrist (495) with Suresh Raina (434) at number four, not much behind to AB de Villiers (465).

As for bowling, RP Singh (23 wickets), Ashish Nehra (19) and Pragyan Ojha (18) took three spots among the top five bowlers.

The first IPL, if anything, was still more startling. The first three toppers were all left-handers: Stuart Marsh (616), Gautam Gambhir (534) and Sanath Jayasuirya (514) all proved the scourge of bowlers.

Group B- England, Netherlands, Pakistan.

Group C- Australia, West Indies, Sri-Lanka.

Group D- New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa.