The aggression ever present while on the field was distinctly absent.
"Until now, we have never spoken of the semi-final in any different way". We've practised the same way from the first day we came here. "We are playing our best cricket at the best time of the tournament". "I said it before the England game, if we put our "A" game together and do the basics well, we can beat anybody". Imran also praised the captaincy of Sarfraz Ahmed.
Mellowed the two captains might be, but the "just another game" theory belies what is at stake.
It was then over to Amir, who quickly dispelled the predictions of many that India could pull off a tournament and ground-record run chase - in the process silencing the majority support in a sell-out crowd for this high-profile showdown as their team folded to 158 all out in 30.3 overs. Mickey Arthur acknowledged as much. "To be able to maintain that balance nicely has been a good thing for me", said Kohli. "And let's be under no illusions, India are a fantastic cricket team at the moment". But now they have a taste of it and things will be right this time. They've come in committed to the way we want to play our cricket.
Today's match was a one-sided affair, with Pakistan outperforming India in all three departments.
"It will be a good match because even Pakistan is in good form". A local paper called it a match between the imperial might of India versus Pakistan's rag-tag band of rebels.
Pakistan defeat India to win Champions Trophy
He was reprieved on three, caught behind off a Bumrah no-ball, and went on to carve, slice and belt his way to a 92-ball century. After adding 20 runs for the fourth wicket with Hafeez, Azam was caught by Yuvraj Singh at the boundary in the 43th over.
In an exclusive interview to geo.tv, the Pakistan head coach said: "It is important that we play to our strengths, we gave too many chances to India in the earlier game".
Following the defeat against India, Pakistan had managed to bounce back in the tournament and hammered South Africa and Sri Lanka in the group stage before defeating favourites England in the semi-final to book their place in the final. The team possesses a batting line-up that can destroy any attack.
What a difference two weeks have made, though, Fakhar delivering at every attempt after being brought in for his debut at the age of 27 and Amir's pace and swing proving too good here for Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan - who could add only 26 runs between them to the 895 they had made over the previous four matches. Their scores combined totals a staggering 874.
Babar Azam joined Fakhar, who lofted Ravindra Jadeja over long-on for six and got to three figures by sweeping Ravichandran Ashwin to the boundary. Pakistan, however, will be looking to continue their sizzling run and dethrone India. But the fact is India have done better in this area too. "They've beaten sides that looked really strong against them".
Sunday's match could, according to some estimates, attract a global television audience of a billion and Arthur was in no doubt of the significance of a win over India.
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