Pakistanis Smile in Unison after Twenty20 Triumph

After a long time, something has given Pakistanis a reason to rejoice and smile heartily, collectively as a nation. Sri Lanka and Pakistan came together in a wonderfully cheering way and the nation earned the right on Sunday to a raucously united celebration for the first time in 17 years. On a midsummer afternoon in London, the Pakistani national cricket team won the World Twenty20 Cup, beating Sri Lanka before a packed house at Lord’s by eight wickets with eight balls to spare. And Some of the players at the World Cup hail from Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province, which has been a conflict zone between militants and security forces. Sport has not escaped the violence and seven Pakistanis were killed after gunmen ambushed the Sri Lanka team bus as they drove to a cricket stadium in Lahore in March. Sri Lanka and Pakistan met at Lord’s and it was hard for a neutral not to hope that both sides won. Both sides had played glorious cricket to get to the final and had entertained and enriched us all with high cricketing skills and maverick invention.