Two tense India-Pakistan encounters done, a supporter said he has chewed off all his nails and would have to chew his moustache during the next match. “That one should be called a moustache-biting thriller,” he joked.

As journalists waited for the post-match news conference, one of them said that Mohammad Nawaz, Pakistan’s Man of the Match, could come. Another one said it could be Arshdeep Singh. For Nawaz, the Dubai stadium is special because he made his Test debut here, against the West Indies in 2016.

Coloured hair

India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka fans all sitting together to watch the match was quite a sight. The only way to tell them apart were their team jerseys. One would have missed the Sri Lankan fans but for Lasith Malinga wigs they wore. Some of the Indian supporters also wore similar wigs but changed the colours into those of the Tricolour.

Car city

The match day was the talk of the town as all roads led to the Dubai International Stadium. Watching the ocean of parked cars, a fan said: “The sports city has turned into a car city today.” The official attendance for the match was reported as 24,511 and nearly all seats had filled up before thefirst ball was bowled.

Special T-shirt

Anis Sajan, one of UAE’s leading businessman and a cricket enthusiast, has customized a T-shirt with the flag and colours of both India and Pakistan for the Asia Cup. On the back of the T-shirt is the phrase, ‘Do Desh Ek Jaan (Two nations one soul)’. Pakistan journalist Razia Desai was one of those who sported the T-shirt on Sunday. Sajan, who also writes a column as “Mr Cricket UAE” for a leading newspaper here, employs both Indians and Pakistanis. For Sunday’s match, he distributed 200 free tickets among his workers.