Fired-up Pakistan lift World Twenty20 title

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.

Edwards to miss first two India ODIs

West Indies have named a 13-man squad without Fidel Edwards for the first two one-day internationals against India this coming Friday and Sunday at Sabina Park in Kingston.
The fast bowler withdrew from last Monday's Super Eight win over England in the Twenty20 World Cup seconds before the toss, after injuring himself in the warm-up.
It was later confirmed that the problem was an irritation of a nerve root in his lower back.
Edwards did not play on Friday in the semi-final at The Oval against Sri Lanka which West Indies lost by 57 runs to exit the competition.
West Indies officials have given no clear indication about how long Edwards is expected to be out of the game with the injury.
The selectors have rewarded Darren Bravo, the younger brother of all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, with his maiden call for West Indies, after a season of consistent scoring for his native Trinidad & Tobago in domestic competition.
The left-hander is the only new member of the squad, and his batting style has drawn more than a passing comparison to that of his fellow Trinidadian and West Indies batting legend Brian Lara.
The younger Bravo scored 605 runs at an average of 43.21 in nine matches of the West Indies domestic first-class competition this year.
The selectors have kept faith with the majority of players that formed the squad for either the previous ODI series against England in May, or the Twenty20 World Cup.
But they have overlooked batsman Lendl Simmons, as well as all-rounders Kieron Pollard, and Darren Sammy.

Squad:

Chris Gayle (captain), Denesh Ramdin (vice captain), Lionel Baker, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Sulieman Benn, David Bernard Jr, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Runako Morton, Ravi Rampaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Jerome Taylor

India aims to put Twenty20 failure behind them

India have arrived in the Caribbean promising to put the bad memory of their failure in the Twenty20 World Cup behind them.
The Indians face West Indies in four One-day Internationals on their brief trip to the Caribbean fresh from their exit from the Twenty20 World Cup at the Super Eight stage.
"When it comes to playing for your country, you don't really need motivation to go out and perform," said India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on arrival.
"West Indies are playing good cricket at the moment. They (had) a very good Twenty20 World Cup, but in the 50 overs, you have time to settle down. After playing so much Twenty20 games, 50 overs seem like a Test match."
The Indian players have had a surfeit of Twenty20 matches, after going straight into the Twenty20 World Cup, following the second staging of the Indian Premier League in South Africa, and this has led to the visitors missing four key players through injury.
Batting superstar Sachin Tendulkar opted to take time off to fully recover from a finger injury he sustained during the IPL.
Shoulder injuries have sidelined talismanic opener Virender Sehwag and left-arm strike bowler Zaheer Khan, and middle-order batsman Suresh Raina has a hairline fracture in one of his thumbs.
"You're always going to miss them because they are great players, but it's a great opportunity for a tour of this nature for young players to show what they're made of," said India coach Gary Kirsten.
"We're looking to those young players for the future as well. This is a great opportunity for these guys to stake their claim."
Kirsten also noted that India have been in great form in ODIs over the last year, losing only three matches of 18, and his side will be looking forward to extending that form.
The first two ODIs take place at Sabina Park on Friday and Sunday, followed by two more the following Friday and Sunday at St. Lucia's Beausejour Cricket Ground.
Squad:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wkt), Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Yusuf Pathan, Murali Vijay, Subramaniam Badrinath, Rudra Pratap Singh, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Abhishek Nayar, Ashish Nehra, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik.

West Indies captain Gayle ready to sting India

West Indian captain Chris Gayle is not losing heart after the semi-final loss in the World Twenty20 and has vowed to bounce back in the upcoming one-day series against India.
The West Indies exited from the tournament on Friday after a stinging 57-run defeat by Sri Lanka at the Oval, but Gayle said he was proud that his team had reached the semi-finals.
"Of course we are disappointed because we too wanted to be in the final, but that does not take anything away from the way the team has played through this tournament.
"I am proud of the boys, they put everything into it. We backed ourselves and came this far. It is a great learning experience for the younger players in the team.
"If they learn the lessons quickly we should be able to capitalise in home conditions when the World Twenty20 is held in the Caribbean next year."
Gayle hoped West Indian fans were happy at the team's performance in the tournament after it was routed 2-0 in the preceding bilateral Test series against England.
"Fans are very hard to please," said Gayle. "They only want victory everytime. I just want to say tough luck to the fans. But I hope they will keep supporting us and stop cursing.
"I say to my fans that we will fly like a butterfly and sting like a bee, we'll be back. What can I do about it? Ask Muhammad Ali!"
The West Indies were outplayed on Friday after Tillakaratne Dilshan's unbeaten 96 in Sri Lanka's 158-5 was followed by an astonishing first over from rising fast bowler Angelo Mathews.
Mathews claimed three wickets in five balls as the Windies slipped to 1-3 and were shot out for 101 despite Gayle carrying his bat for an unbeaten 63.
"The three wickets in the first over set us back and we could not overcome that as we kept losing wickets regularly," said Gayle.
"You need partnerships in any form of the game, but this is especially true of Twenty20 cricket.
"All credit to Dilshan for the way he batted. I thought we had a good start to keep them down in the first six overs and Dilshan was their only batsman among the runs.
"He just did not give us a chance and helped set a decent total for Sri Lanka."
Gayle said he looked forward to the four one-day matches against India in the Caribbean starting later this month.
"We will get back home for a few days and start another series soon," the West Indian captain said.
"India may not have made the semi-finals here and we did, but we start from scratch and have to do all the hard work again.
"India is always a good one-day team, so it is bound to be a tough series."
Asked whether he will put his money on Sri Lanka or Pakistan in Sunday's final, Gayle quipped: "I am broke, maan!"
"But we can't ask for a better final. We have two quality teams and so it should be a quality final."

Sangakkara hails 'pioneer' Dilshan

Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara hailed Tillekaratne Dilshan as a "pioneer" on Friday after the opener hit an unbeaten 96 to lead his side past West Indies and into the World Twenty20 final.
Sri Lanka cruised to a comfortable 57-run win at the Oval and will now take on Pakistan in the final at Lord's on Sunday.
"I have run out of superlatives for Dilshan. He is a pioneer stroke-maker in Twenty20," said Sangakkara.
"The best thing is that he understands his role and has become very responsible and mature. He has finally understood how good he is."
Dilshan's knock was the centrepiece of Sri Lanka's 158 for five with his 57-ball innings, which featured two sixes and 12 fours, the equal third-best in Twenty20 international history.
Fellow opener Sanath Jayasuriya (24) and Angelo Mathews (12 not out) were the only other Sri Lankan batsmen to reach double figures.
Mathews then took three wickets in the first over of the West Indies reply and the Caribbean side never recovered as they finished on 101 all out with captain Chris Gayle carrying his bat for 63 not out.
"It's Mathews's first major international tour and you can't ask for much more than three wickets in the first over," added Sangakkara.
"To get three top order batsmen out is a great start. We have a great bowling attack, they are all thinking cricketers.
"Now we will take this confidence into the final against Pakistan. We'll concentrate on getting our basics right, we'll be responsible and execute our game plan."
Dilshan said he was learning all the time in the international arena.
"I got the start I wanted. I've been in good form in the last six months in the IPL and in international cricket," said the opener, who was named man of the match.
Gayle said the defeat was a bitter pill to swallow after his bowlers had limited the flamboyant Sri Lankans to 158-5.
"I'm very disappointed. I thought batting was our strength," said Gayle.
"Dilshan took the game away from us. But we have struggled to get a start and get runs on the board.
"We'll come back as a better unit and learn things from this."

It's our turn now, says Pakistan's Younus

Pakistan captain Younus Khan wants his team to win the World Twenty20 title to bring joy to the millions in his volatile country starved of big-time cricket.
"We are one match away and we will do our best to win," said Younus after his team knocked out favourites South Africa in Thursday's semi-final at Trent Bridge here.
"We want to make people back home happy. Winning the title will mean a lot to them and that will inspire us in the final. One more game and the World Cup will be ours."
Pakistan has become the pariah of world cricket after being shunned by foreign teams due to security concerns which forced the Champions Trophy and World Cup matches to be shifted out of the country.
Pakistan, runners-up to India in the inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa two years ago, will play either Sri Lanka or the West Indies in the final at Lord's on Sunday.
Younus said it did not matter who Pakistan play in the final, but admitted he will keenly watch the second semi-final at the Oval on Friday.
"We will keep track of both Sri Lanka and the West Indies. They are tough sides but we are not worried who we play.
"We will just go out and put our best effort, like we did against South Africa."
Pakistan rode on a brilliant all-round performance by Shahid Afridi to pip South Africa by seven runs and end the Proteas' five-match winning streak in the tournament.
Afridi smashed 51 from 34 balls and then grabbed 2-16 with his leg-spin as Pakistan successfully defended 149-4 to restrict the favoured Proteas to 142-5 before a sell-out crowd at Trent Bridge.
"Afridi is the sort of player who wins games on his own," said Younus. "He has done it here and I know he wants to repeat this in the final as well."
Younus said the five-run defeat by India in the 2007 final at the Wanderers in Johannesburg still hurt, and he hoped the team will not make the same mistake again.
"We felt terrible after losing that one. You come so close and then it all goes away. Hopefully, we will do better this time."
Pakistan bounced back twice over the last two weeks to keep their hopes alive.
Younus' men lost their opening preliminary match against England, but then thrashed the Netherlands to advance to the Super Eights.
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.
"We are slow starters, but we have shown through this tournament that we can match any other side on our day and will take a lot to beat us," said Younus.
Against South Africa, Afridi plundered eight boundaries, including four in succession off Johan Botha, after Pakistan elected to bat on a wicket that slowed down as the evening progressed.
Veteran Jacques Kallis made a brave attempt to take the South Africans home, striking seven fours and a six in 64 from 54 balls, but the other batsmen faltered against the spot-on attack.
It did not matter at the end that Pakistan, who were 120-3 after 15 overs, failed to build on the early advantage and managed just 29 runs in the final five overs.

Afridi lifts Pakistan into World T20 final

Shahid Afridi shone with bat and ball as Pakistan dumped South Africa by seven runs to storm into the World Twenty20 final here on Thursday.
The maverick batsman smashed 51 from 34 balls and then grabbed 2-16 with his leg-spin as Pakistan successfully defended 149-4 to restrict the favoured Proteas to 142-5 before a sell-out crowd at Trent Bridge.
Pakistan, runners-up to India in the inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa two years ago, await the winners of Friday's semi-final between Sri Lanka and the West Indies in Sunday's final at Lord's.
Afridi plundered eight boundaries, including four in succession off Johan Botha, after Pakistan elected to bat on a wicket that slowed down as the evening progressed.
Veteran Jacques Kallis made a brave attempt to take the South Africans home, striking seven fours and a six in 64 from 54 balls, but the other batsmen faltered against the spot-on attack.
South Africa made a steady start in reply as openers Kallis and Graeme Smith reached 40 by the sixth over.
Smith failed to make use of an early chance when he was dropped by Umar Gul as he skied a return catch to Mohammad Aamir after making 10.
Afridi, coming on to bowl in the seventh over, struck twice in four deliveries when he bowled Herschelle Gibbs and AB de Villiers to make South Africa 50-3 in 8.3 overs.
Afridi and fellow-spinner Saeed Ajmal, made runs hard to come by, and when the dangerous Gul came on to bowl in the 14th over, South Africa needed a further 77 from 42 balls.
Kallis and JP Duminy raised South Africa's hopes by adding 61 from 53 balls for the fourth wicket, but Ajmal broke the threatening stand by having Kallis caught in the deep in the 18th over.
Duminy remained unbeaten on 44 from 39 balls but the task of needing 23 runs in the last over bowled by Aamir proved too much for him and Mark Boucher.
It did not matter at the end that Pakistan, who were 120-3 after 15 overs, failed to build on the early advantage and managed just 29 runs in the final five overs.
Pakistan had made a frenetic start, racing to 28 off the first 15 deliveries but at the cost of two wickets.
After Kamran Akmal had taken eight runs in Dale Steyn's first over, Shahzaib Hasan fell in the second over for zero when he miscued a big hit off left-arm seamer Wayne Parnell.
Akmal struck a six in Steyn's second over, but fell off the next delivery as he top-edged a pull to Morkel at mid-on. Akmal made 23 from 12 balls with four boundaries and a six.
Afridi, promoted to number three, swung Kallis for two fours in one over as Pakistan reached 47-2 by the time the field restrictions ended after the sixth.
Afridi brought up his half-century off 33 deliveries after slamming off-spinner Botha for four consecutive boundaries in the 11th over that realised 18 runs.
A desperate Smith turned to slow bowler Duminy in the 13th over and struck gold first ball as Afridi holed out to mid-wicket.