Though there is rivalry in cricket between Indians and Pakistanis, there is no animosity between the fans. All of them were seated together to watch the action on Sunday at the Dubai International stadium. After the match, they indulged in intense post-mortem, all in a sporting manner. Pakistan supporters felt that had Virat Kohli been caught in the very first over by Fakhar Zaman, they would have won. The Indian fans were divided into pro-and-anti-Kohli groups.

Kohli supporters feel it was he who showed the way to victory through his brilliant shots. The anti-brigade felt that he played the most irresponsible shot to get out. Almost all Pakistan fans seemed confident that they will win the rest of the matches, to which an Indian fan wanted to know whether any player, except Babar Azam, could be compared to Rohit Sharma, Kohli and Hardik Pandya. The retort to that was also quick. “If so, why did India win with only two balls to spare?” The most sporting moment of the match was when the Indian supporters too joined the Pakistan fans in clapping for Pakistan pacer Naseem Shah after he recovered from his cramps.

Tape-ball stars

Naseem Shah and Shahnawaz Dahani, who sparkled for Pakistan, grew up playing gully cricket with a taped ball. Shah hails from the Dir District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He used to try and bowl like the Pakistan greats Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar and New Zealand’s Shane Bond with the tape-ball. It is said he bowled with a cricket ball only after he joined a cricket academy. Dahani hails from a small village near Larkana, Sindh, and was a tape-ball cricket star. A Larkana regional cricket official, watching him bowl in a tape-ball cricket match, invited him to join the Under-19 district selection.

Bhuvi & Pak

There are fans in the UAE who keenly follow every Indian cricketer. Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who picked up four Pakistani wickets, is an idol for a few budding cricketers. “I like Bhuvneshwar for his bowling as well as his manners on field,” remarked one.

They have a reservoir of information about this bowler. Rattling out his stats, one said, “Bhuvneshwar made his One Day and T20 International debut against Pakistan. He got a wicket with his debut ball in ODI when he removed Mohammad Hafeez with the first ball. He made his T20 International debut too against Pakistan and picked the wicket of Nasir Jamshed with the last ball of his first over.” In Sunday’s match, he almost got Pakistan opener Mohammad Rizwan, who survived two reviews in the first over.