British High Commissioner Christian Turner also went all aboard the hype-train, even saying a small sentence in Pahari. The high commissioner stood infront of a rickshaw wearing a shirt combining English and Pakistani cricket jerseys, as he said ’Raja ji, Pindi jul san, match tak san.“ (Raja Ji, I want to go to Pindi to see the match.)

Speaking in Urdu, he also said that after a memorable limited-overs series and a final between the teams in the T20 final, the test series will be won by whoever showed more ‘garam joshi’ (passion).

“Give it your all, boys,” the ambassador added.

England is batting first in a historic test in Rawalpindi, the first to be played between the two teams on Pakistani soil in 17 years. Alhtough a viral infection threatened to derail the test on Wednesday, things ended up staying on schedule.