In an ideal world, India and Pakistan will fight it out on the cricket field as just two regular opponents, with only the trappings that accompany a high-voltage sporting contest to contend with. This is far from an ideal world, of course, so subtexts are an inevitable fallout when these two proud sides run into each other, which is only increasingly sporadically these days.

Long-awaited clash

On Saturday, when they line up at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium at the Asia Cup, it will be the first time since June 2019 that they will face off in a 50-over international. They have had skirmishes in the T20 game, both in the Asia Cup and the World Cup last year, but the freezing of bilateral action has contributed to this massive 50-month gap between ODIs.