From Lahore to Faisalabad in a Daewoo bus with a hostess making anouncements that are undecipherable, unless one has an echo filter. Snacks and soft drinks on a two-hour bus ride, along with a television, make it a semi flight-like experience. Parts of the journey are spent surveying the pastoral countryside, most of it sleeping, a suitable index of the comfort levels in the bus.

Cricket in smaller cities always has an informal air to it. Security guards appear less tense, the public exude more anticipation. Both teams go through a relaxed net session, with Danish Kaneria attempting mighty slogs against the net bowlers, only for the ball to land just 20 yards away. It's a brand of slogging like none other, an agricultural exercise in a scientific age.