After completing a clean sweep over the West Indies in the T20s, Pakistan climbed to number 2 in the ICC T20I Rankings; which is the highest ranking they have achieved in the format.

Its surprising though that Pakistan were not there, or even at number 1, earlier. They are clearly the most dominant international T20 team.

1. Pakistan's series win over the West Indies was their 12th series T20I series win, which is the highest number of bilateral series won by an international T20 team.
2. Pakistan boasts of not only the leading wicket takers in T20 Internationals, but the top 3 leading wicket takers - Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, and Shahid Afridi are on top of the charts with 74, 73, and 64 wickets respectively.
3. I hate to say this but its true that Kamran Akmal, with 54 dismissals, has the highest number of dismissals by a wicketkeeper in T20 Internationals.
4. Pakistan hold the record for taking the least number of deliveries to dismiss the opposition - they required only 74 deliveries to bowl out South Africa in Centurion in March this year.
5. Saeed Ajmal's 25 wickets in 2012 is the second highest number of wicket taken in T20 Internationals in a calendar year. The record is Dirk Nannes' 27 in 2010.
6. Pakistan's 103 run win over New Zealand in Christchurch in December 2010 is the largest margin of victory by runs for T20 Internationals not involving associates or affiliates.
7. Umar Gul's six 4-wkt hauls in T20 Internationals is the most number of 4-wkt hauls in T20Is.
8. Shahid Afridi has 8 man of the match awards in T20Is, which is the highest number of MOM awards in the format. He shares that record with Shane Watson.

Right they say that the shorter the game, the better the Pakistan!

Unfortunately Afridi did not have my new UK number, otherwise we would have surely met!

More seriously though, I just found out that Afridi was at Old Trafford Football Club last night for a charity event.

I would have definitely turned up had I known about this before hand; maybe made some donations too.

In other news, Afridi has turned down an offer to play for Tasmania in Australia's Big Bash 20-20 tournament later this year.

Pakistan will be touring New Zealand and Australia from November to January, which will clash with Australia's domestic 20-20 competition.

That's why Afridi decided to turn the offer down.

But Tasmania? I thought it was New South Wales that was interesting in him.

For all the female fans, it probably was.

For me however, the moment to cherish was when Shahid Afridi walked out for the toss.

In Pakistan's colors, in Pakistan's top job.

From calling right at the toss, to the knock he played, to the way he manoeuvered the field and the bowling changes, to the way he led his troops, Afridi did not put a foot wrong tonight.

In his very first match as Pakistan captain, Afridi was in command of everything he did.

He stabilized Pakistan's innings initially; then when the time was right, he broke loose and raced to his third consecutive 50 in Twenty20 Internationals.

He remained calm when Sri Lanka's openers started pounding Pakistan's bowling; more importantly he kept his men calm.

His field placing was immaculate, as were his bowling changes.

The match could not have ended without the world witnessing the one arm raised Afridi salute, so he gave us a wicket.

There was an apparent change in Pakistan's body language tonight; they looked confident; they were energetic; they batted aggressively but sensibly; they played with passion; they fielded with purpose.

What stood out was that they all responded to their captain, Shahid Afridi.

This 2009 has been some rollercoaster of a year! For me as well as for the Pakistan cricket team.

I'll save my personal ride for some other time; Pakistan's ride has been nothing short of dramatic.

Captaincy change, a first home test series in 17 months, an attack on a visiting cricket team, an ODI series against Australia for the first time in half a decade, return of the ICL rebels, a World Cup win, retirements, a first test tour in 17 months, sensational debuts, unexplainable collapses, and what not.

Pakistan cricket has gone through a lot.

During this time, we at Well Pitched have been around riding this roller coaster with them.

Today as I get ready to shift base from the UAE to the UK, I leave with the news that Shahid Afridi has been announced captain of Pakistan's Twenty20 team.

How awesome is that!

Since the day Well Pitched came online about 2 years ago, I have been writing about two key things that I want to see happen.

One was the permanent inclusion of Fawad Alam in the Pakistan XI in all forms of the game.

The second was the elevation of Shahid Afridi to the position of Pakistan captain.

2009 has seen both those wishes come true.

Couldn't have asked for more, could I?

What's best is that this is just the beginning for Fawad Alam and Shahid Afridi the captain!

Surely better and bigger things are yet to come!