Watch Out!! PAKISTAN Will WIN the T20 World Cup 2009

Two teams maketh a final. But, I've chosen to talk only about ony one, Pakistan. I am ignoring Sri Lanka for the simple reason that the green caps' run has been the most dramatic of any other team in the World Cup.

Sri Lanka has had an undefeated run-up to the finals whereas Pakistan have had their mouths in their hearts for a good part of the tournament. At one point they were struggling to make it to the Super 8s stage and even in the Super 8s they had a disastrous start with the Lankan Tigers (yes the same team they meet up in the finals) decimating them whole and square.

Earlier, their Twenty20 championship campaign had started on a losing note when England (the team that was beaten by Netherlands in the tournament inaugural) thrashed them by 48 runs. Luke WrightLuke Wright was the hero of the match in which England, batting first had put up an unassailable 185 runs on the board.

Pakistan then turned the tables on the minnows Netherlands in the next match when they posted a mammoth 176 runs only to bundle out the Dutch for a paltry 93 runs taking them to the Super Eights stage on the basis of a better net-run-rate.

Their first Super 8s match was a disaster to say the least. Pakistan all along looked like a team under pressure as a composed Sri Lanka, assisted by Muralitharan and Malinga ran through their brittle top-order and a tail that lacked spine effortlessly, Lankans scampering home by 19 runs. Younis KhanYounis Khan, the Pakistan captain, ever the smiling man got a heavy pounding from the criticis for not showing up a serious demeanour even in tough times.

That the captain was carrying an ace up his sleeve was evident in the next two matches of the Super 8s stage when Pakistan rose like the proverbial phoenix from the ashes. The green caps hit back hard in the next two matches and at the receiving end was the injury-plagued New Zealand and the newbie Irishmen.

If it was the magical Umar GulUmar Gul's fiver against the Kiwis, it was Saeed Ajmal's guile against Ireland that did the trick and catapulted the team into the semi-finals against South Africa. Umar Gul's reverse swing heroics against the Kiwis need a special mention and in this regard I feel there's no better way to communicate Gul's brilliance than to let the rival captain speak out his feelings.

All that a flummoxed Daniel VettoriDaniel Vettori can mutter at the end of the match, after having witnessed Gul swinging the ball like crazy was, "I have no idea how it's done." With hardly any cricket against their names in the last eighth months, Pakistan still proved that one cannot take the sublime skills of the rugged sub-continent players for granted. Not in a World Cup for sure!!

Not if you've been a witness to Imran KhanImran Khan's bunch coming from behind and taking away that ODI World Cup in the early 90's. Can Pakistan demonstrate a come-from-behind victory again and be crowned as the badshahs of T20 Cricket at Lord's tomorrow?

You can't dare say no to this question after the semi finals which saw Shahid AfridiShahid Afridi wake up from his deep slumber (of a long long time) and almost single handedly take away the match from the classy Proteas. So, who will be the star of the finals at Lord's?

I, for one can't think beyond Pakistan when it comes to the team taking away the trophy. After all, they've a score to settle against the Lankans for the Super 8s drubbing.

And yes, Younis Khan continues to carry that smile along, never mind the critics. Lets get glued to the tellies and witness his assasination de rigeur.

- myVox

PS: Do not miss the pics which bring the best of action from each match Pakistan has played to date in the championships. Just one great pic per match.