The relief on Younis Khan's face was evident. His players showed once again that however many controversies surround Pakistan cricket, once on the field they are one of the most exciting teams to watch.
After dismissing Sri Lanka for 253, Pakistan made a mad dash towards the end to overhaul the score in 48.1 overs in Jaipur on Tuesday. The team got down for collective namaaz in the dressing room after the victory before starting the victory celebrations.
"To be honest some of the players were nervous in the morning," admitted a smiling Younis. "But for me, the more pressure I am in the better I sleep.
"Even yesterday I had said that cricket was a team game and we proved that day. We won as a team. I am thankful to Allah for keeping our pride intact and giving the players the strength to come up with a performance like these."
Pakistan had received a jolt when their strike bowlers Mohammed Asif and Shoaib Akhtar were withdrawn from the series after testing positive for Nandrolone, an anabolic steroid.
The team, fighting to put together the crumbling pieces, found support in the Indian stands as the near-capacity crowd at the Sawai Mansingh stadium cheered them on vociferously.
Sanath Jayasuriya provided his team with a blazing start but once the Pakistani spinners came into operation, Sri Lanka stumbled and were bowled out inside 50 overs.
"At the start of the match, I would've happily taken a total of 250, but the way we started we should've put 20-30 runs more on the board," said Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene.
Younis agreed that it was his spinners and the bowling in the slog overs that had turned the game in Pakistan's favour. He persisted with the experienced Razzaq, who had gone for 22 runs in his first two overs, at the death and was rewarded with two wickets.
"Razzaq had gone for runs in his first spell but he knows these conditions better than anyone else and has the experience of bowling well in the slog overs. I was also pleased that Hafeez was able to perform under pressure."
Razzaq, who finished with four wickets, was even more destructive with the bat, slamming 38 runs off 24 balls, including two fours and two sixes.
"This win is a good break for our team; it will definitely lift the players morale," said Razzaq, who has won many matches for Pakistan with bat and ball.
Shoaib Malik kept Pakistan in the game with an unbeaten knock of 46 runs after he had help plug Sri Lankan charge and claimed two wickets.
"The plan was that the Malik and (Kamran) Akmal, who were not in great form, play ball-to-ball while the rest of us go for the big hits. I am happy we stuck to the game plan and were finally able to pull it off," the Pakistan captain said.
The 28-year-old Younis had given up captaincy before the tournament due to internal problems but had finally accepted it under controversial circumstances. But the drama apart, Younis said that even if Pakistan did go on to win the Champions Trophy Inzamam-ul-Haq would take his "rightful place" as captain.
"Inzamam is the Pakistani captain. As his substitute I would only like to get out the best performance from my players. I want to give them the stress-free atmosphere that I did not get sometimes as a youngster. But I still think the players haven't opened up completely and played their best," he said after leading his team to one of the most memorable wins for Pakistan.
Younis also admitted that Shahid Afridi was under-utilised as a cricketer and the team is still looking for a right place for him in the batting order.
