Younus believes in power of '92

Imran Khan lauds the wicket of Richard Illingworth, as his 'cornered tigers' beat England in the 1992 World Cup final

Pakistan captain Younus Khan hopes to fulfil a career dream and satisfy his troubled homeland by lifting the ICC World Twenty20 trophy at Lord's tomorrow.

Pakistan, who face unbeaten Sri Lanka in the final, have only once won a world event, 17 years ago, and Younus wants to emulate the achievements of that heralded side.

"In my whole career I have dreamed about lifting the World Cup, or something like that," said Younus. "This would be a big achievement for me. We have only one World Cup, in 1992, under Imran Khan.

"If we win tomorrow it will be good for our future cricket and also for the Pakistani nation as well.

"It has been suffering a lot of things, especially in the north, where I am from. There are a lot of things wrong there."

The Pakistani military has been fighting Taliban forces in the north-west of the country and terrorist attacks have rocked the region during this World Twenty20 tournament.

The inifiltration of terror into their everyday lives is something ordinary Pakistanis now deal with on a daily basis and their cricketers were drawn into the issue when the Sri Lankan team was fired upon by gunmen during the Lahore Test in early March.

It left several Sri Lankan players and staff with wounds and their ‘mystery spinner’, Ajantha Mendis, spent 10 days in a Colombo hospital after having two rounds of surgery to remove shrapnel from his back and scalp.

"It was very wrong," said Younus. "It was the first time, especially in Asia, this kind of thing happened for sports.

"It hurt us and is doing so at the moment. Both teams were very sad about that, and the whole nation was very sad about that.

It is Pakistan's three spinners, led by Shahid Afridi, that secured their berth in the final, reckons Younus Khan

"When it happened there was a lot of call around Pakistan to 'please protect them'."

As a result of the March 3 incident, Pakistan is unlikely to host international cricket for some time.

Younus still thinks of former Pakistan coach and personal mentor Bob Woolmer, to whom the Pakistan skipper said earlier this week a final win would be a tribute.

"I miss him a lot," said Younus. "I was in and out of the team in 2004-05 but then he was appointed as a coach and he helped me and a lot of people.

"If we win I will dedicate it to him - he was very helpful and everybody owes him something."

Pakistan have already lost to Sri Lanka by 19 runs on the same ground in the Super Eight stage but having settled on a consistent XI they have since claimed three straight victories.

Whoever wins the toss is expected to bat given the general high proportion of success taking that route in the tournament to date and Sri Lanka's in particular.

"Both teams have good spinners and that is why we reached the final," Younus stressed. "Nobody thought spinners would do damage in a country like England but that has been the case.

"Now it is all about the day of performance. If my boys play the same as we have played in the last couple of games - when we have been unbeaten - we will win quite easily.

"If we play on potential we will beat any team. We are underdogs. I think we reached the final because there was no pressure on us.

"After the first game people talked about us not qualifying for the Super Eights, while teams like India, Australia and England who have good records in this tournament were under pressure to get through."