10-Hours from Kabul to Lahore

Pakistan deserved to host the final - By Jonathan Knowles

During the 18th over of England's disastrous batting display at the Karachi National Stadium, I looked around at the people who were watching the match with me. Some were dressed in traditional Moslem attire, others were wearing jeans and t-shirts, a few had Pakistan shirts on, some were wearing shoes or sandals, others were barefoot.

Then Mohammed Hasnain and his friend Khizer, who had been sitting next to me, returned to their seats with a minced chicken and salad burger for me, along with a cup of Coke. I was blown away by their kindness and generosity. That wasn't where it ended though; five minutes later they bought a chicken paratha roll from the vendor walking through the stands, and insisted I eat half. Then at dinner time whilst I was at my seat dealing with a queue of selfie requests, they bought me a portion of papri chat, followed by chips.

That more or less summarises my time here at the Champions Trophy. Forget the actual cricket results and the disappointment of some rain, it's the people I have met who have made this trip so special. People who have comparatively little but are so welcoming and wanting to share what they have with you. People who want you to sit next to them. People who are so happy that you have visited their country. People who share their stories with you.

I sat next to Ghayas for a while whilst watching Australia against Afghanistan in Lahore on Friday. His story is that he works in the finance department of the World Health Organisation in Kabul (what a job that must be), and he caught a 10-hour car ride to Lahore with a friend to watch Afghanistan's matches against both England and Australia. Asif came and asked me for a selfie. His story is that he is studying for his MBA but will stay in Afghanistan once he's achieved it (rather than move abroad) because he "wants to help Afghanistan".

I felt honoured to have been told such stories; what amazing people you get to meet at the cricket! But what a shame those people didn't manage to see a full match on Friday night because a huge thundershower ended the game abruptly...

I left just before the rain arrived as I had a flight to Karachi to catch. Entry into the National Stadium on Saturday was very different to Rawalpindi and Lahore. Instead of five or six body searches, I only had two! And nobody asked for any proof of identification either.

I had two South African flags with me in Karachi. One was for me, and the other was to give to whoever was sitting next to me to wave. As the television cameras picked us up, friends in both England and South Africa started to send through photos of us on television. As more WhatsApp messages arrived, the anticipation amongst my new friends was indescribable whilst we waited for the photos to download. As soon as they appeared, my phone passed through everyone surrounding me, with shouts of "Send me, send me". The next five minutes were then spent getting mobile numbers and forwarding pictures. Thanks to all my friends who sent those photos and videos; you have no idea how many people you made so happy and excited on Saturday night.

England were all out for 179 within 40 overs and, as the sun set, I took off my sunglasses. Hasnain said, "You have blue eyes". He was actually the second person to have said that to me this week; and I realised then that everybody here has brown eyes...

South Africa (or just "Africa" as people in this part of the world often say) chased down their target with ease, winning with more than 20 overs to spare. At the end of the match, I received lots of handshakes and "congratulations". I can't think of anywhere else in the world where you experience that. After saying goodbye to the people who had sat around me, I thanked Hasnain and Khizer once again and gave them a big hug (as well as my flags). As I walked out of the ground and onto the street, I received one last lot of selfie requests. And whilst walking along the road waiting for a tuk-tuk to take me back to my hotel, I had people shouting "South Africa" out of their car windows to me, including an army officer from his truck!

Cricket in this country is big. Let's hope for Pakistan's sake that next Sunday's final does take place in Pakistan, because that's what its people deserve...