We’re quick to recognise and tut-tut India’s unhealthy deification of its players but that is, in part, because we know how utterly human, how flawed, our players are. They have fixed matches, tampered with balls, schemed and manipulated; they fight each other, they conspire, they are power hungry, they use drugs, they politick, they make mistakes. Some are just plain crazy. Even Imran Khan, the greatest to have lived, was seen by many to be parochial, arrogant and dictatorial.

Not having a behemoth for a media industry, and a shrill one at that, probably helps, but expectations are naturally more guarded, eroded by years of the tamasha cricket has provided. Even had Pakistan won, the reactions were unlikely to have been as loud as they were in India, cynicism, more than cricket, is a religion.

But still, cricket remains and subsequently so too does hope. An opportunity is waiting to be grabbed: a new captain, a new coach, some new faces, and talent is always there. But we’ve been here before. Is this a brave new world? Perhaps it is, but if not, another will come along.

The writer is Pakistan editor, Cricinfo