London, June 21: The last time around, they had missed the World Cup by a whisker. This time, Pakistan left nothing to chance as they packed a punch to thump Sri Lanka and emerge as the World Twenty20 champions at Lord’s on Sunday.

The meagre target of 139 was never a hassle as the Greens rode on Shahid Afridi’s half-century to canter home by eight wickets.

Afridi hit two boundaries and an equal number of sixes as he smashed 54 not out in 40 balls. Kamran Akmal (37) and Shoaib Malik (24) were the next best.

It was only fitting that a team that had undergone innumerous trials and tribulations, had won the World championship.

Sri Lanka were never in the game as Pakistan tightened the screw right from the start to restrict them to a modest total. The champions got off to a flyer too, courtesy Akmal, who swatted Ajanta Mendis for a flat six over mid-wicket in his first over, the sixth of the innings. One more six, off Angelo Mathews followed and the game began to slip out of Sri Lanka’s hands.

Sanath Jayasuriya struck with his first ball as did Muttiah Muralitharan in his second spell to apply the brakes briefly but Shahid Afridi cut loose in the 14th over, hitting Murali for a six and a four and then picked singles to take 14 runs off the over that shifted the momentum back to Pakistan.

Earlier, Kumar Sangakkara played a captain’s knock to lend respectability to the Lankan total. With wickets falling regularly at the other end, the left-hander paced his scoring very well to remain unbeaten on a vital 64 that built the Lankan innings.

Sangakkara’s sensible knock was spread over 52 balls and contained seven fours

With his side down in the dumps at 70/6 in the 13th over, the captain steadied the boat with some prudent batting. He played smart cricket, respecting the good balls while cashing in on the bad ones to gradually collect runs and save his team’s blushes.

Sangakkara launched into the big strokes towards the end of the innings as Lanka raised 59 runs in the last five overs without losing a wicket.

Sangakkara’s stand of 68 in 44 balls for the unbroken seventh wicket with Mathews was instrumental in resurrecting Lanka.

Mathews threw his bat around to good effect at the death to smack three boundaries and a six in his 24-ball 35 as he played perfect second fiddle to his captain.

However, the Lankan big names went bust in the big game. Tournament top-scorer Tillekeratne Dilshan, the explosive Jayasuriya and reliable Mahela Jayawardena got out cheaply to derail the innings.

Pakistan could not have hoped for a better start. Mohammed Aamer began with a wicket maiden as he tied down Dilshan for four balls and got him out on the fifth as the batsman tried to force him over the infield.

The early fall of the wicket prompted Sangakkara to send in Jehan Mubarak as a pinch-hitter but the lanky Lankan fumbled as his leading edge was caught by Shahzaib Hasan at mid-off. Abdul Razzaq too had struck in his first over. Sri Lanka were 2/2.

Jayasuriya dragged a Razzaq delivery on to his stumps, Jayawardena played one straight into Misbah-ul Haq’s hands at slip and the Lankan cream was gone. It was too big a task for Sangakkara to put up a strong total.