Dhoni delighted by effort

Gautam Gambhir set up victory for India with a valuable innings of 75 © Getty Images

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Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni claimed he would treasure India’s ICC World Twenty20 triumph “for the rest of my life” after his team beat Pakistan by five runs to win the inaugural competition.

Dhoni’s team were crowned champions after Sri Sreesanth caught Misbah-ul-Haq’s attempted scoop over the infield with just six needed off four deliveries in a thrilling finish in Johannesburg.

India had entered the competition with little expectation after they made an early exit from the one-day World Cup earlier this year but Dhoni - captain for the Twenty20 and India’s new one-day captain - believed their victory was deserved.

He said: “It is one of the things I’ll treasure for the rest of my life. I think it’s amazing, I’m really excited and I’d really like to congratulate the boys.

“Nobody expected us to do anything but I think we deserved it. The Twenty20 will catch on in India and will be big.

The India team celebrate their highly unexpected win over Pakistan

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“The way we departed from the World Cup it will do the repair work but we have to do consistently well.”

Irfan Pathan was named man-of-the-match after claiming 3-16 to change the game in India’s direction.

He said: “It’s a great feeling, a great comeback and to win the Twenty20 is amazing. When I came in we were under pressure.

“It could have gone anywhere. All the bowlers did really well, we played as a team, we deserved this especially after the World Cup.”

Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik believed his side had been undone by poor batting after they had restricted India to 157 for five with only Gautam Gambhir rising to the occasion with 75.

However, only Misbah offered real resistance with his 43 as Pakistan were all out for 152.

The skipper said: “I want to thank you back home in Pakistan and supporters all over the world. Sorry we didn’t win but we gave 100 per cent.

“They have a strong batting line-up and we restricted them, we did it but our batting doesn’t go through so that is why we lost but our bowling was superb.

“We had a few bad shots - that is why we lost that game.”