Electing to bat, Sri Lanka struggled to post 138 for six off their 20 overs and Pakistan responded with 139 for two off 18.4 overs in front of a huge crowd at Lord’s.
Afridi, whose stirring half century on Thursday had lifted Pakistan past the in-form South Africa, was 54 not out at the end and was named man of the match.
After a sluggish start to their innings, Sri Lanka profited from a solid unbeaten 64 from their captain Kumar Sangakkara.
The prolific Tillakaratne Dilshan, who took the Player of the Series award, fell for a “duck” to teenaged pacer Mohammed Aamer in the first over and a three-wicket haul from Abdul Razzaq (3-20) had rocked the Sri Lankans early.
They stuttered to 67 for five in the 12th over.
Afridi then bowled Isuru Udana (1) in the next over and the score became 70 for six going into the 14th over.
But Sangakkara paced his side to relative recovery with his half century and an unfinished 68-run partnership with Angelo Mathews, who scored 35 off 24 balls.
Sangakkara reached his fifty off 44 balls with five fours.
Pakistan were steady in their reply and measured the run-chase well.
After Kamran Akmal (37) and Shahzaib Hasan (19) posted an opening stand of 48, Muttiah Muralitharan dislodged Hasan (19) at 63 for two but Afridi and Shoaib Malik linked up to complete the victory with a 76-run stand.
Afridi smashed 54 not out off 40 balls with two fours and two sixes and Malik stroked 24 off 22 balls to deliver the title for captain Younis Khan.
“It was fantastic, we were underdogs, all credit goes to the team and the nation,” Younis said.
“I knew if we restricted them to 140-150 it would be chaseable. This is a gift from us to our nation,” Younis declared.
There was glimmer of hope for Sri Lanka near the end when Pakistan’s run-rate slowed, but Afridi thumped a six over midwicket and a four to fine leg — off successive balls by Udana – in the 18th over and left Pakistan with a mere seven runs to win from the last two overs.
Sri Lanka were losing their second major final in two years after going down to Australia in the 2007 ICC World Cup Final at Kensington Oval in Barbados, but Sangakkara credited his players for their fighting spirit throughout the tournament.
“I’m very proud of my team,” Sangakkara said.
“I’m proud about their fight, their attitude and I think we’re going to be a really good team. It was tough for our bowling unit to keep on defending totals during the tournament, we could have done with 20 runs more. That’s (Sri Lanka’s) the best bowling unit in the world,” added Sangakkara.
The 2010 ICC World Twenty20 is set for the Caribbean next year.
