London, June 22: Former captain Shoaib Malik has hailed all-rounder Shahid Afridi for his superlative efforts, which saw Pakistan crowned as the new Twenty20 World champions.
Afridi smashed his way to an unbeaten 54 off 40 balls, his second consecutive half-century, while Malik scored an unbeaten 24 as the duo shared a match-winning partnership of 76 runs to help Pakistan thump Sri Lanka by eight wickets.
”It was a pressure match. When I walked out to the wicket I was thinking I have to stay until the 20th over,” an euphoric Shoaib said after the historic triumph yesterday.
”Shahid was awesome today and all credit to him. I told him to stay at the wicket and I will get some runs, that we can finish the game. He’s a great cricketer,” he added.
Afridi also played a crucial role during the victory in the semi-final, producing a superb all-round effort to put favourites South Africa out of the tournament
—–Agencies