T20 World Cup Top Moments: 'Starman' Afridi sets the stage alight at Lord's to win Pakistan the 2009 title

The talisman stood there in the middle of Lord’s, arms aloft, bat in one hand, helmet in the other, soaking in the atmosphere and the adulation. Shahid Afridi had just won Pakistan the World T20 with his all-round heroics and brought smiles to his nation. About two years ago, they had suffered the heartbreak of losing in the 2007 World T20 final against India in Johannesburg in a nail-biting thriller. The day 21 June, 2009, will forever be fresh in the minds of the Pakistan fans. A special player had earned them a special win at the home of cricket. This was a different version of Afridi on display. A calmer and mature Afridi. [caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  File image of Shahid Afridi. Twitter/@ICC[/caption] Just three days ago he had guided Pakistan into the final with a win over South Africa in Nottingham. Striding out at 8/1, he batted responsibly to score a 34-ball 51 and then followed it up with figures of 4-0-16-2 to help Pakistan make it to the final of T20 World Cup for the second time in a row. And here he was, at the Lord’s, doing it all over again in a big final. Kumar Sangakkara won the toss in the final and opted to bat first. But a charged-up Pakistan pace battery set the tone as Mohammad Amir and Abdul Razzaq scythed through the top order to reduce the Lankans to 32/4 inside the first six overs. Amir removed the tournament’s highest run-getter Tillakaratne Dilshan for a duck in the first over. Razzaq sent back Jehan Mubarak, Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Jayawardene. Umar Gul then joined the party to remove Chamara Silva. Afridi’s first bit of contribution arrived when he cleaned Isuru Udana with a googly. It was a lovely flighted delivery, drifted in down the slope. Udana played down the wrong line and found the stumps shattered. Reeling at 70/6, the senior pros Sangakkara (64 off 52 balls) and Angelo Mathews (35 off 24) resurrected the innings and put on a strong rearguard to add 68 for the seventh wicket to achieve some respectability as the Lankans posted 138/6. Afridi finished with figures of 4-0-20-1. Chasing the target, Pakistan got off to a steady start as openers Kamran Akmal and Shahzaib Hasan added 48 in the first seven overs. However, Pakistan were jolted as Akmal was stumped off Jayasuriya in the eighth over. In walked Afridi. And after two overs he saw Hasan depart. At 63/2, Pakistan needed to stabilise as well as keep the scoreboard ticking. Afridi got off to a cautious start but he didn’t go into a shell completely. He rotated the strike well and scored 17 off 19. This wasn’t the flamboyant Afridi who went berserk right from the first ball. This was a mature Afridi steadying the ship and trying to bat deep.

With the run rate hovering around eight an over, Afridi showed first signs of attacking instincts as he got down on one knee and slog swept Muttiah Muralitharan over deep mid-wicket for a six, off the first ball of his final over. It was Afridi’s first boundary of his innings. He then charged down the track the next ball, Muralitharan drifted it a bit wide but Afridi reached it and smashed it over extra cover for a four. It released the pressure valve. Afridi and Malik resorted to taking singles and twos to take it deeper. With 26 needed off 18, Sangakkara handed the ball to Udana. The first four balls yielded 8 runs and then Afridi hit a couple of hammer blows to take the match away from Sri Lanka. Afridi picked up the slower one from Udana and smacked it over cow corner for a six. And then clipped away a high full toss, which was called a NO BALL, wide of short fine leg for a four. It brought up his fifty and the equation down to seven runs from 12 balls. Afridi flicked one to the leg side for a single off first ball of the penultimate over from Lasith Malinga. Malik then flicked one wide of the short fine leg fielder for a four. Another single from him tied the scores. With just one required, Malinga darted in an inswinging yorker outside the leg stump, Afridi missed his flick and they ran through for a leg bye as the umpire turned down the LBW appeal. Afridi struck the ‘Starman pose’ as Malik and the Pakistan dugout charged towards him and erupted in an embrace. Pakistan had got off to a bad start with two defeats from the first three matches. However, they bounced back strongly to win the next four matches to add another ICC trophy in their cabinet. Afridi was coming down at five and six in the batting order in the first few matches. But they promoted him to No 3 against Ireland in their final group game and it clicked. He hit 13-ball 24 in that match. The move proved to be crucial as he scored match-winning fifties in the semi-final and final striding out one down. “I discuss everything (related to the game) with Younis frankly. I thought I had no advantage in batting down the order in the world event. So, I asked the skipper to promote me which proved to be prolific,” Afridi told Dawn.com. He finished with 176 runs from 7 innings at an average of 35.20 and a strike rate of 140.80. His bowling also stood out as he scalped 11 wickets (fifth-highest) from seven matches at an average of 13.54 and an economy rate of 5.32. The ghosts of the 2007 final were buried as Pakistan lifted the trophy.

“I woke up in the morning and was feeling butterflies in my tummy. So, I said, this is the day to do it,” Afridi recalled in an interview with the Lord’s Cricket Ground channel. “Oh wow, that was a beautiful day, I know how my whole nation felt that day, especially the Pakistani community here in England. That was a great memory which I can’t forget. I still remember I had hit two sixes at the right time, one against Muralitharan and another against the fast bowler, don’t remember his name (It was Isuru Udana). Still, whenever I am free in my room, I always follow that innings on the internet.”

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