"This is more like our own place. We have always enjoyed playing here," felt the young heart-throb Pakistani cricket star Shahid Afridi. "I feel being at home, so hospitable are the people here. Mainu purane waala kamra chahidaa hai," added Azhar Mahmood. "Everybody is looking forward to playing at the best ground of the world the PCA Stadium," said the team's German doctor, Dane Kaizal.

If reception at the Chandigarh railway station was all confusion, with securitymen unable to control the fans, it was business as usual at the team hotel. "We enjoyed our stay here the last time (two matches of the Independence Cup in 1997) and it is so very similar now," said the team's magical off-spinner, Saqlain Mushtaq.

Arriving by the evening Shatabdi Express from New Delhi, Pakistan skipper Wasim Akram was, however, visibly upset over the security arrangements for the team. From the time Akram alighted from the train till the team members boarded the luxury bus waiting outside the railway station, the players had to fend a host of fans, putting the security in a shambles. Some players, carrying their own bags, had to run through the beeline awaiting them. Even though the organisers had made arrangements for the team's practice at the PCA Stadium in S.A.S. Nagar later this evening, coach Javed Miandad, attired in a white salwar kameez, preferred his boys to call it a day. The team is expected to have an extended practice-session tomorrow afternoon.

There was a cause of concern for the Pakistanis with an injury scare to middle-order batsman Inzamam-ul-Haq, who was hit on his forearm by speedster Shoaib Akhtar in the nets at New Delhi this morning.

The Pakistanis were earlier scheduled to arrive yesterday but some members wanted to visit Agra, hence their arrival was delayed by a day.