ABSTRACT
There is a story narrated by Peter Osborne in his history of Pakistan cricket about a match that was played in the latter part of the 1990s in the FATA region. In a country divided across race, language, sect and much else, cricket has become an increasingly vibrant and resilient component of the Pakistani identity. It cuts across many, though not all, of the multitude of divides that afflict Pakistan in a way few other social or cultural concepts do. By 1994, Pakistan's sportsmen were world champions in hockey, squash and snooker, another fast rising sport. But it was the cricket team's victory at the 1992 World Cup that ended up having the greatest impact. It propelled cricket to the position of the most popular sport in the country, moving into the imagination of people living outside of the two big cities and turning cricketers into bona fide celebrities.
