A young man clad in Pakistan whites steams in with the ball in his hands. A subtle jump off the popping crease, a slingy release, the ball skidding off the surface and thumping into the knee roll of the batter.
Round the wicket, the same run-up, the same action, generating sharp inswing to destroy the stumps of a left-hander. Then comes the celebration — face red, fists clenched, all fire.
Pakistan fans have longed for that sight, those sounds, that feeling.
At Edgbaston in Birmingham on Wednesday, the starved aficionados of Pakistan cricket, who almost automatically qualify as fast-bowling lovers, were jolted from a slumber — the sort of indifference brought on by constant disappointment — by a 21-year-old from Mardan called Razaullah.
The right-armer, already drawing comparisons with Pakistan great Waqar Younis, strengthened the notion that pace bowling and Pakistan go hand in hand with a fourth-ball dismissal of England captain and greatest Test batter Joe Root on his debut.
