Nottingham, June 19: With violence being the order of the day back home, the Pakistan cricketers are here on a mission — to win the World Cup and give the people back home, who have been deprived of cricket due to the volatile security situation, something to cheer about.

Captain Younis Khan revealed this after his side beat South Africa by seven runs to make the final of the World Twenty20 championships for the second successive time.

"This World Cup is everything for us, especially in these conditions. We are suffering from everything in Pakistan at the moment — the law and order is not good and there’s lot of fighting going on back home. If we win this World Cup it will bring about a lot of change in the people of our country, especially in the (troubled region of) North, where I come from," he said after Pakistan defended a modest 149/ 4 to restrict the Proteas to 142/5 at Trent Bridge on Thursday.

Shahid Afridi held the innings together with a 34-ball 51 while Shoaib Malik (34) and Younis Khan (24) rallied around him before a double strike by Afridi (2/16) and some tight bowling by spinner Saeed Ajmal (1/23) and Umar Gul (1/9) strangled the South Africans. Jacques Kallis (64) and Jean Paul Duminy (44) tried their best but it wasn’t enough.

Younis however kept his feet on the ground by saying "Twenty20 is nothing special, you just need some match winners, like we have in Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal, Umar Gul and Misbah-ul Haq. Luckily for me, everything has been falling in place."

Asked to explain the constant shuffling in the batting order, Younis was at his humorous best. "These days nothing is stable in Pakistan, so how can our team be stable?" he asked amidst laughter.

Scores: Pakistan 149/4 in 20 overs (S. Afridi 51, S. Malik 34) bt South Africa 142/5 in 20 overs (J. Kallis 64, J.P. Duminy 44 n.o.; Afridi 2/16).