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Pakistan erupted in celebration Sunday after the national cricket team beat Sri Lanka at Lord’s to win the Twenty20 World Cup, a rare moment of joy amid the gloom of the country’s bloody unrest.
Pakistan reached a modest, 139-run target for the loss of two wickets with eight balls to spare to win their first major trophy since 1992, when Imran Khan led them to victory in the 50-over World Cup in Australia.
People danced in the streets late into the night after following the London match on big screens set up in parks and stadiums across the country.
As Pakistan scored the winning run with Shahid Afridi at the crease, people danced with joy, lit firecrackers and celebrated by distributing sweets.
“We are proud of our team as they gave us a rare moment of joy,” said Suleman Siddiqui, who watched the match at a stadium in Karachi.
Former captain Ramiz Raja said the win would help lift the gloom besetting the war-torn country.
“This is the greatest moment in Pakistan cricket, greater than 1992 because people (are now) in gloom and previously had nothing to cheer about,” said Raja, a member of 1992 team that beat England in the Melbourne final.
Pakistan has been hit by civil unrest and its army is fighting an increasingly deadly insurgency in the North-West Frontier Province.
Earlier this month a suicide bomb blast killed over dozen people in Peshawar, some 30km from Mardan, the hometown of captain Younus Khan.
Hundreds of people gathered outside Khan’s home Saturday night to watch the game and celebrate the win.
“We lost so many people in the blasts recently. The military is fighting a war in Swat but we forgot all the gloom with this cricket win,” Abdullah Khan told a local television channel after the win.
People also thronged paceman Umar Gul’s house in Peshawar.
“We have a tradition of hosting our guests and Sunday’s final was watched by hundreds of people outside our house,” Gul’s elder brother, Mairaj, told AFP.
In Islamabad, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari announced a cash prize of 500,000 rupees (6,500 US dollars) for each member of the winning team and double that for Afridi, the final’s player of the match with an unbeaten 54.
“We are proud of you,” Zardari said in a statement. “You have given a moment of joy… and the whole nation is celebrating the win.”
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also congratulated the team and invited them to attend a reception at his official residence after their return from Britain, his office said in a statement.
“The country is proud of their superb team play, which held aloft Pakistan’s flag in the field of cricket,” the statement said.
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