It's not only my fondest cricketing memory but one of the happiest moments of my life. For years I read about the 1992 World Cup but it's difficult to relate to something that happened when in your nappies and never saw live.
The disposable and fleeting nature of T20 cricket, and with another event scheduled nine months later meant the 2009 WT20 didn't register on the same scale.
A year prior in January 2016 when watching an ODI between Pakistan and New Zealand, I came down with an incurable condition called tinnitus (ringing in the ears) which made me nearly suicidal. Cricket was my escape. Now I've learned to live with it. A few months later Pakistan were dumped out of the T20 World Cup playing outdated cricket with some toxic individuals in the team.
When Mickey Arthur was appointed coach, Inzamam made chief selector and Sarfraz becoming captain, one sensed a new era beginning - Pakistan's "white ball reset". The results weren't immediate, but some greenshoots were apparent (chasing 300 in England and beating Australia at the MCG) while a raft of youngsters were inducted.
I won't narrate the events of the tournament. All I'll say is how that campaign hasn't resulted in a film is another example of Pakistani economic incompetence - a failure to chart an incredible human triumph over adversity while teams like England grant knighthoods for one Ashes series win.
Truthfully England and India were better ODI sides overall. However we not just beat but demolished them playing a brand of cricket not seen in years. I sensed it was Pakistan's Cup during the SF but refused to believe so remembering the 2007 WT20 heartbreak.
Just missed the Rohit dismissal returning from a walk, but screamed every unrepeatable obscenity at Azhar when he dropped Virat Kohli. This was prime Kohli, King of Chases. Of all the people to drop.
The next ball was the biggest moment of catharsis ever. 10 years of tragedies, scandals, isolation, no home cricket and ritual humiliation against India in ICC events was overcome in that moment.
That's why I'll always have a soft spot for those involved. Unfortunately the afterglow quickly fizzled out, but it was the first step in Pakistan's ODI revival. That was my generation's 1992 moment.
