Even for those that had stayed back, the end would have come as a relief.

Pakistan, never quite suggesting they could make a match of it, handed England a 93-run victory at the Eden Gardens on Saturday, dragging the hopelessly one-sided joust to the 44th over. England had put 337 for 9 on the board, a target Babar & Co couldn’t threaten even for a moment right through their ‘chase’. Agha Salman got a fifty, a few others got a start and the 10th wicket added 53 off 35, but it was all woefully inadequate.