NEW DELHI: India enter Sunday's Asia Cup clash against Pakistan in Dubai as overwhelming favourites, boasting a squad brimming with quality across departments. On paper, the balance and depth of the Indian side makes them far superior to their arch-rivals, who are still searching for stability under newly-appointed skipper Salman Ali Agha.

What is unusual, however, is the subdued build-up. An India-Pakistan match - scheduled on a Sunday no less - usually dominates headlines and conversations. Yet this time, despite heightened border tensions and the added context of a T20 World Cup looming in India in just four months, the encounter lacks the typical frenzy that surrounds the rivalry.

With batters like Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, and Abhishek Sharma, backed by the pace of Jasprit Bumrah and the spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy, India look stacked with match-winners. An upset can never be ruled out in a format as unpredictable as T20 cricket, but the odds heavily favour the Men in Blue.

For Pakistan, the challenge lies in proving their credentials with a youthful line-up. Opener Saim Ayub, middle-order talent Hasan Nawaz, and the spin trio of Abrar Ahmed, Sufiyan Muqeem, and Mohammad Nawaz represent the team's new philosophy - one that looks beyond the overreliance on Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan. Whether this fresh approach can dent India's dominance remains to be seen.

The political pitfalls

The recent terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which claimed the lives of 26 tourists, has further strained relations between India and Pakistan and cast a shadow over their latest cricketing showdown.

The aftermath - marked by military action and widespread public anger - has contributed to an unusually subdued build-up to what is typically the most anticipated fixture of the Asia Cup. Normally a festival-like affair, the atmosphere this time feels muted, with thousands of tickets still unsold and only a handful of fans present at India's practice session on Friday.

Social media campaigns calling for a boycott of the match have also gained some traction, raising questions over whether BCCI officials, who generally turn up in large numbers at marquee events, will show their presence on Sunday.

While the Government of India continues to permit encounters against Pakistan only in multi-nation tournaments, the bilateral freeze remains firmly in place. Meanwhile, the travelling media has tried to inject spice into the build-up, but as expected, players and officials from both camps have avoided political questions with a dead-bat approach.

Battle of spinners

Normally, an Indo-Pak match has been about Indian batters locking horns with Pakistani pacers but this time around, the spinners of both sides will have a significant role to play considering that Jasprit Bumrah and Shaheen Shah Afridi are the only specialist pacers who will be seen in action on Sunday.

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 the minds of Pakistani batters.

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

Last but not the least, Mohammed Nawaz, the left-arm spinner, ranked 30th in actual ICC rankings but at the zenith according to his coach Mike Hesson isn't a patch on Axar Patel, who is the most valuable yet low profile player in the Indian line-up.

Brittle Batting line-up

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.

When it comes to all-rounders -- Faheem Ashraf is not comparable to Hardik in terms of match-winning ability.

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

If India are 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. He had dismissed KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and some overs later Virat Kohli to set up a nice T20 World Cup group league win for his country.

But post knee surgery, Shaheen hasn't been half the bowler he was and the late swing and off the pitch movement has gone missing.

The key for India will be to figure out 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.

(With PTI Inputs)