Of course, Gul’s was not just any achievement but a record, a first ever 5-wicket haul in International Twenty20s with his spell of 5 for 6 in three overs against New Zealand. Maybe the ICC didn’t want a Pakistani clean sweep so decided to spread the awards out. It’s either that or Daniel Vettori must have been on the ICC judges panel.

The other issue I had was the fact that the next Twenty20 World Cup is going to be held in April 2010, meaning that we will not even hold the title for a year. I will not go over it in detail as to why as Q has done a fine job of this over at Well Pitched, but it all stems from the cancellation of the Champions trophy in Pakistan in 2008. I suppose it does make sense but it’s just sad we will probably be the shortest holders of the World T20 title. It’s first winners, India, held the honour for almost two years. I suppose whether it’s two years or two minutes, at least our name will be permanently engraved in the record books as Champions, 2009.

Now that I’ve got that off my chest, I would just like to give our two unsung heroes a mention. They were, in my opinion, Kamran Akmal and Shoaib Malik. Akmal showed his vastly improved glove work and gave us some lightning starts at the top of the order. Shoaib Malik, was probably our best in the field, taking two spectacular catches, one of them a vitally important pressure catch to dismiss Jacques Kallis in the semi-final. Yet, what was most impressive about Malik was his role in the two instances when Afridi performed with the bat. His cool headedness, composure and ability to pace the innings whilst keeping Boom Boom from going Bust Bust, was a critical element to our success in the semi-final and the final.

Overall, I was glad we defeated the two undefeated sides left in the competition (Souh Africa an Sri Lanka) to take the title because the haters would just not have let that one go.