ICC World Twenty20 2009: Pakistan Won at Lord's, England Hosts, Younis Khan Captain, Shahid Afridi, Sri Lanka Final

The second ICC World Twenty20 was hosted by England in June 2009 — the first time the tournament had been held in a northern hemisphere country and the first time English cricket grounds had hosted a major global T20 event. The twelve competing nations played across several of England's most celebrated cricket venues, with Lord's Cricket Ground selected to host the final as the sport's most historically significant venue. The tournament was held in a context that gave it particular significance for Pakistan cricket: in March 2009, just three months before the tournament began, a group of armed men had attacked the Sri Lanka cricket team's bus as it travelled to the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore for a Test match. The attack killed six police officers and two civilians and injured several Sri Lankan players and their support staff, ending international cricket in Pakistan indefinitely as all touring nations ceased travel to the country for security reasons. Pakistan's cricket team was thus an effectively homeless Test and ODI side, playing all their international home matches at neutral venues in the UAE and other countries for years afterward. The context — a national team representing a country whose cricket had been isolated by a terrorist attack — gave Pakistan's participation in the England tournament and their subsequent performance particular meaning.

Pakistan's Victory and the Lord's Final

Pakistan, captained by Younis Khan, progressed through the tournament in a way that combined the collective performance required to win a multi-team knockout competition with the individual contributions that T20 cricket rewarded: Shahid Afridi's bowling and lower-order hitting, the batting of Mohammad Yousuf and Younis himself, and the pace bowling of Umar Gul across the tournament's stages. Sri Lanka had produced consistently competitive cricket across their group matches and semi-final and came into the Lord's final as a credible opponent — a side that combined the batting quality of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene with the spin bowling of Muttiah Muralitharan, who was still active at the 2009 tournament. In the final, Pakistan's bowlers restricted Sri Lanka to a total that their batting line-up could chase down without undue difficulty, and Pakistan won by 8 wickets at Lord's to claim the title. The margin of victory — 8 wickets, a decisive winning margin — suggested a performance in the final that was as complete as the tournament as a whole had been. For Pakistan cricket, the first major ICC limited-overs title since the 1992 World Cup, and the first won under the continuing shadow of the Lahore attack, was a result that the players and their supporters had badly needed.

The Lahore Attack and Pakistan's Homeless Cricket

The March 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka cricket team in Lahore was one of the most significant events in the history of international cricket's security arrangements and permanently altered the landscape for Pakistan as a cricket host nation. The attack — in which gunmen opened fire on the convoy of buses carrying the Sri Lankan touring party to the second day of the second Test match — injured six Sri Lankan players and killed six police officers assigned to protect the team. The ICC and the world's major cricket boards responded by placing Pakistan on an indefinite moratorium as a host for international cricket, and all series that Pakistan had been scheduled to host were moved to neutral venues, primarily in the UAE. Pakistan played all their 'home' Test and ODI cricket in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah for a period that extended more than a decade. Within this context, Pakistan's victory at the 2009 World Twenty20 — won in England just three months after the Lahore attack — served as a reminder that despite the difficulties facing Pakistani cricket, the playing quality of the national team remained among the world's best.