At a little after 6pm on Valentine’s Day for most of the world, but match eve for cricket people, the love for the big occasion peaked in Colombo. Tickets to the India-Pakistan match — six of the them in Section 10, that included hospitality, unlimited food and drink were on offer for US$ 11,907 apiece. No, that is not a typographical error. For three hours and a bit of entertainment, or a maximum of 240 legal deliveries even with a low-pressure system building and threatening rain, there are people willing to break the bank. At nearly Rs 11 lakh, you could put down a deposit on a modest apartment, buy an entry-level hybrid SUV or educate a child abroad for a couple of semesters. And yet, such is the demand for India-Pakistan matches that it would be considered too farfetched if presented as fiction.

This long ceased to be a cricket match. Off the field it has been commandeered by politicians in both countries to suit their purposes, set in stone as a fixture to the point where broadcasters design their bids banking on it and hotels and airlines indulge in the worst form of price gouging. A 10-second advertisement spot on the Indian broadcaster commands a premium, costing upwards of Rs 70 lakh and yet companies are falling over themselves to be seen during the event. It’s no wonder that the cricket world bent over backwards to make the game happen after Pakistan announced a boycott.

As players, it is impossible to treat this as just another game, even though that is the recommendation from every coach who has overseen teams playing this contest over the years. Suryakumar Yadav, to his credit, admitted that this was “an occasion” and that the mind did wander to all the attendant hype and hoopla. “No matter how much you say that it's just another game and that we just want to play cricket, it’s at the back of the mind,” said Surya. “It's a human tendency, knowing which game you are about to play. And we don't play them often as well.”

Not playing Pakistan often brings a kind of novelty that is rare in modern cricket. In this age of big data, video analysis and deep research, there is a freshness to the clash because nothing replaces the experience of taking on an opponent. Traditionally, India-Pakistan limited-overs games have been billed as Pakistan’s fast bowling versus India’s batting. That was far from the focus at the

Premadasa Stadium. Pakistan have played their two matches of the tour nament at the Sinhalese Sports Club, so they do not have a major edge, in terms of familiarity with the conditions. What they do bring to the table, however, is a wealth of spin options.

Shaheen Shah Afridi was the lone fast bowler in Pakistan’s last match, with five spinners being used. Of these spinners, Usman Tariq has been the cynosure of all eyes for his extremely unusual action in which he has a pronounced pause — almost long enough to squeeze in a quick advert and maximise monetisation potential — before he delivers the ball. At first sight many watchers have thought this action illegal, especially as he delivers the ball from a very round-arm position at times. Tariq has been cleared by the International Cricket Council (ICC) twice, so the chatter will remain just that. What Tariq’s action does is give India exactly the template they need for success: play the ball, not the bowler, or his action; think about the game, not the occasion. This is, of course, easier said than done. In their net session ahead of the game Surya took it upon himself to deliver off breaks with a similar stutter in his action so that batsmen could get used to what they may come up against, at least visually. More critically, though, Abhishek Sharma spent a generous amount of time tonking the ball into the stands. There was the rare defensive shot, but for the best part, Abhishek’s bat traversed a beautiful arc, blessing the brutality of his long balls with gracefulness only given to southpaws. Just as Pakistan have an army of slow bowlers, India have a crowd of left-hand batsmen. Tilak Varma spent his time crunching sweep after sweep, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Ishan Kishan and Shivam Dube all had a hit.
India could well add another leftie to the mix if Kuldeep Yadav comes in to bolster the spin department, given the long boundaries at this ground. And you couldn’t discount the possibility of finding a slot for Washington Sundar. The practice session was a reminder of what this was all about, at its best: bat versus ball. The sport has been saddled with many burdens it should not have to carry, but if there was one thing fans could ask of it, it was that it rose above, and produced a contest of high quality, thereby turning an occasion back into a sporting contest.