India win Twenty20 World Cup
Mahendra Singh Dhoni's young Indian team snatched the
inaugural Twenty20 world title on Monday, defeating arch-rivals Pakistan by five
runs in a thrilling final at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.
The Indians, restricted to 5-157 after electing to take
first strike in good batting conditions, fought back to bowl out valiant
Pakistan for 152 with three balls to spare before a sell-out crowd of 32,000.
Pakistan appeared out for the count when they were reduced
to 7-104 after 16 overs, but Misbah-ul Haq gave the Indians a scare with a late
charge of 43 off 38 balls.
Misbah and his tail-end partners took 19 runs in the 17th
over bowled by spinner Harbhajan Singh, 13 in the 18th of Shanthakumaran
Sreesanth and seven runs in the 19th from Rudra Pratap Singh, leaving 13 to get
off the final over.
Seamer Joginder Sharma bowled a wide off the first ball
and was hammered for a six by Misbah with the second legitimate ball, but gave
India victory with his next delivery as the batsman holed out to fine-leg.
Rudra Pratap and Irfan Pathan claimed three wickets each
as Pakistan's jinx of never having beaten India in a World Cup or world
championship match continued.
Top Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan was at hand to witness
India take home the winner's purse of $US490,000 ($566,000) while Pakistan
received no prize money for their efforts in the final.
The Indian cricket board announced a separate bonus of
$US2 million ($2.31 million) for their players who'd been in just one Twenty20
international before the tournament and were without senior pros Sachin
Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly.
"It was a real team effort,'' said Dhoni. "I am so proud
of my team for fighting till the end and never giving up hope.
"I had told them before the match that all I needed was
100 per cent effort, it did not matter if we won or lost. We gave it our all and
won in the end.''
Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik also praised his young team,
saying they did not go down without a fight.
"We kept India to under 160, but lost too many wickets at
the start,'' said Malik. "But I am very happy my team did not give up hope and
fought till the end.''
India's innings was restricted by seamer Umar Gul who
scalped three prize wickets of Yuvraj Singh, Dhoni and top-scorer Gautam Gambhir.
Gambhir slammed 75 off 54 balls, studded with eight
boundaries and two sixes, but none of the other batsmen settled in to play a
long innings.
The best partnership in the innings was between Gambhir
and Yuvraj, who put on 63 for the third wicket.
India's total was boosted by Rohit Sharma and Irfan Pathan
who plundered 27 runs in the final two overs. Sharma remained unbeaten on a
16-ball 30.
Pakistan's chase of the victory target of eight runs an
over was launched by Imran Nazir who smashed 33 off 14 balls, taking 21 runs in
the second over sent down by Sreesanth.
But Pakistan lost three wickets by the sixth over as left-armer
Rudra Pratap dismissed Mohammad Hafeez and Kamran Akmal in his first two overs
and Nazir was run out by a direct throw from Robin Uthappa.
Pakistan took the total to 3-65 in the ninth over when
three further wickets fell for 12 runs, two in one over from Irfan Pathan, who
was named man of the match.
Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi was declared the player
of the tournament despite falling for zero in the final.
