Arch rivals India and Pakistan square off in Asia Cup match on September 14

DUBAI: A spoilt-for-choice Indian squad will be the favourite by a country mile against arch-rival Pakistan here on Sunday in their Asia Cup encounter which is strangely devoid of any hype despite border tensions that have only risen in the past few months.

There is no dearth of context in the contest with a T20 World Cup set to be played in India in four months’ time. But for the first time in many years, a cricket match between India and Pakistan, that too scheduled on a Sunday, lacks the kind of high-pitched narrative that always comes with the territory.

There are batters like Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Abhishek Sharma, a pacer like Jasprit Bumrah, spinners of Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy’s calibre in the Indian playing XI. The Indians look way more menacing on paper compared to Pakistan, which is trying to find its feet under new skipper Salman Ali Agha.

One of the most talented batters in Pakistan’s line-up, opener Saim Ayub, middle-order willow-wielder Hasan Nawaz and the troika of spinners in Abrar Ahmed, Sufiyan Muqeen and Mohammed Nawaz would love to prove a point in a new look team that dumped the philosophy of depending heavily on Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan.

With thousands of tickets still available and very few fans turning up at the India practice on Friday, the festive excitement surrounding the match is missing.

Although the pitch isn’t offering a significant turn, the presence of one right-arm wrist spinner and one left-arm wrist spinner each in both sides makes for a fascinating sub-plot.

Sufiyan Muqeem is a good bowler but nowhere close to a much craftier Kuldeep Yadav, whose googly has been unplayable from the hand.

Abrar Ahmed’s leg-breaks and quirky celebrations have gained him a lot of fans across Pakistan but Varun Chakravarthy, with an element of mystery attached to his art form, can mess with minds of Pakistani batters.

He could especially be tough for young guns like Saim Ayub, Shahibzad Farhan, who aren’t reading spinners from their hands.

More than bowling, it is the batting line-up of India that will make Pakistan anxious.

Gill, Abhishek, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, and Shivam Dube can butcher any bowling attack on their day.

These are players, who can take pitch out of the equation at any given point of time.

If India is wary of any one particular bowler in the Pakistan line-up, then it has to be Shaheen, who has fond memories at this ground in 2021.

The key for India will be to figure the ideal batting line-up. Sanju Samson’s slot will be vital and so will be that of Dube, whose assigned task will be to take down the spinners in the middle overs.

The noise may be absent, but the stakes remain high. Because when India and Pakistan take the field, hype or no hype, the world stops to watch.