The drama started to unroll in 2007 for the first time when the inaugural T20 world cup kicked off in South Africa in the most ravishing style where we saw Chris Gayle score a century and South Africa chase down a mighty score of 205 with major contribution coming from Herschelle Gibbs, the man who had hit Six sixes off an over in the recently concluded 50 over world Cup.

For Pakistan as a team this format of Cricket was very suitable. All you needed was 20 overs to bat where getting a collapse was unimaginable. The first match of this tournament for Pakistan was against the associate member Scotland.  The tournament at first seemed to the cricketing fraternity as a source of attracting the crowd and as ‘Entertainment’  however it turned out to be a whole different ball game with every passing match.

1. The first ever bowl-out

In the inaugural tournament Pakistan shared a group game with India where we saw the first tie in a T20 wordcup match.  However, the result was decided from a rule know as ‘Bowl out’.  This was more like a penalty shot out in cricket with out a goal keeper.  The rules were simple as each team would get 5 delivers to bowl and rattle down the stumps.  At the end the team with more bowl outs would be declared as winners.  This is were things changed for the cricketing world when Pakistan took this bowl out quite casually where as India took it as a serious competition and this made the difference.  Pakistan in the first three attempts couldn’t hit the wickets a single time where as India were successful all three times.  The celebrations by India  showed that this tournament wasn’t just a source of entertainment but a matter of pride and glory!

2. Chasing down the World Champions

One of the major games from this tournament was when Pakistan faced Australia in the Super 8s and in the most interesting encounters Pakistan defeated the ODI cricket world champions. This game would be remembered for this biggest six of the tournament (till this stage of the tournament)  by Misbah ul Haq,  who hit a 111 meter six of the bowling of Nathen Bracken. Mark Nicolas was saying in the commentary that “Pakistan is pulling off a famous upset over Australia”  not knowing that till this 5th edition Australia wouldn’t have been able to clinch a single world T20 title.

3. So close yet so far

The tournament ended on a low note for Pakistan when they were defeated by India, falling short by 4 runs.

4. Birth of Ministry of Spin

Time passed and the crowd tried to forget that pain of not being able to come over the line. The next edition of the T20 world was played in England.  This was after a few months of the horrific Sri Lankan team attack in Pakistan.  However,  Pakistan still weren’t counted out of the hunt as they certainly were one of the better teams and had played the previous final. This team the team was being led by Younis Khan who was considered to be a great cricketing mind by the cricket gurus in Pakistan.  The tournament however didn’t start as per expectations and after a defeat to India in a warm up game we showed some below par performance against England.  To make things more difficult England had already been defeated by another group team Netherlands in the opening game of the tournament thus run rate came into play for Pakistan in their game against Netherland. This time around the spinners came to the rescue and Pakistan defeated Netherland by the required margin and made their way to the next stage.

5. Return of Razzaq the Soldier and Rise of the Guldozer

By this time there was no Abdul Razzaq in the Pakistan squad. Here we saw Yasir Arafat luckily or unluckily getting injured and for him Razzaq making way in the squad.  However before Razzaq would have joint we saw Pakistan losing a cruel super 8 match to Sri Lanka and it seemed like things were just not going to fall in place and Pakistan would lose their next game to the in form New Zealand and get knocked out of the tournament!  However it was not to be and we saw Umer Gul produce the best ever T20 being figures against New Zealand and wrap them up for 99 runs. Umer Gul got the first T20 five wicket Haul. He got the figures of 5 for 5 against the New Zealand line up and showed his yorker bowling talent and reverse swing in that very game.  The game would be remembered for the most amazing catch by a Pakistani fielder till date in T20 world cups.  Afridi took a blinder when he was running away with the ball over his shoulders and judging the catch to perfection and then raising his arms for the typical Afridi celebration! The probably was the game where things just fell perfectly for Pakistani and in cricketing terms the team had caught the right momentum to get the things going as per plan!

6. King of Peshawar, Karachi and Birmingham

Razzaq had made a return to the team and had contributed in form of wickets.  The team made it to the semi final where Afridi made the most amazing match performance with both the bat and ball.  Here we can recall the famous lines of Harsha bhogle stating “He’s the king of Peshawar, Karachi and Birmingham“.

7. On the top of the world

Pakistan in the final clearly out played Sri Lanka in all three departments and as we all remember it finished off with the famous lines by David lloyed “Big man big game leg bye who cares?”  This for the Pakistani cricket fans remain the most amazing cricket moment in the last 15 years!

8. Those two deadly final overs

The next edition of T20 world cup did not have the most fond memories for this cricketing nation as the team was outplayed by the Mr. Cricket attack in the semi final.  However the Mohammad amir over of 5 wickets comparing of 3 run outs and 2 batsmen being boweld with no runs conceded was a memorable part of the tournament.

Umer Akmal show cased his talent in the Semi final when he took Pakistan too a score more than 190. The tournament ended on a low note as Saeed Ajmal was taken to the cleaners by Mike Hussey!

9. The real T20 specialist back in WT20

Next up if was the tournament where we saw a glimpse of fireworks from one of the raw talents this country has had, Imran Nazir! Nazir show cased his strength in a tough game against Bangladesh where Pakistan chased a big total with the help of a 23 ball fifty from Imran Nazir. This was one delightful innings and his strength of quality hand eye coordination was on display!

10. Bang Bang from Guldozer

Another memory from this tournament was the Strength that Umer Gul showed with the bat! His use of long handle versus South Africa won Pakistan the most historical game from 80 for 7 to cashing down a total of 135+. This was one cameo that every Pakistani would remember for a life time!

11. Bhatti pulls a Waqar Younis

The 2014 event and the 5th edition of the T20 world cup was played in Bangladesh where we saw Pakistan defeat Australia in a Close encounter where we almost lost the match after a knock from Glenn Maxwell.  Umer Akmal played the most impressive knock and his impressive stroke play was on display!

Pakistan Vs Australia in T20 World Cup 2014 by faisal-saeed1

12. The only Pakistani with Ton in every format

We also saw the only century scored by a Pakistani player in T20 internationals scored by Ahmad Shahzad in a group game against the host nation Bangladesh!

This edition of the world Cup would be one of the most anticipated tournaments as it is being held in India where cricket is not just a sport but a religion! The sixes,  fours and wickets are going to make the fans go over the moon! Cricket Pakistan needs to do justice to its talent and put up a quality show on display!