India v Pakistan: Third time's the charm for cricket then?

We have been here before. Not in the Asia Cup, where it's taken 41 years and 17 editions to have both India and Pakistan in the final, but in the rhythms of this rivalry. Pakistan have looked like this before: clumsy, erratic, often undone by their own urgency against India, the occasion weighing heavier than the ball in hand. India have looked like this too: steadier, sharper, carrying themselves with the kind of stoic confidence that can, in moments, harden into swagger. And yet, history reminds us that Pakistan have turned such scripts around before, sometimes spectacularly at the expense of India in a final.

Of course, this is not 2017 and this is not the Champions Trophy. Nor is it the Austral-Asia Cups of 1986 and 1994 in Sharjah. It is 2025, it is the Asia Cup, and it is Dubai. And fortunately, cricket matches are not won by echoes of the past but by the skills and decisions played out on the day. Still, sport has a way of tugging teams back into old patterns, as if memory itself lingers in the logo on the jersey. And nowhere is that inheritance starker than in the gulf separating India and Pakistan today.

At the moment, it is no surprise that India, with their financial might and the way it funnels into domestic cricket, are at a different level. The gulf has shown in the two matches between the sides; it has shown everywhere except for the 10-odd overs when Sahibzada Farhan kept India at bay. The gap is so apparent that Suryakumar Yadav, India's captain, has said India-Pakistan is "not a rivalry anymore." At least not in T20Is. India lead the head-to-head tally 12-3, which gives weight to the statement, but the remark, pointed and deliberate, came in the middle of a tournament and India do not have the trophy in their hands yet. His words will carry more force if he does; if not, it could be one of those lines cricket circles back to for years.

The good news is that more people than ever will be watching this final. Many on both sides of the border, who may not have tuned in at the start, are now invested. They are interested, they are cheering, they are showing up. It may not be a World Cup on the line, but it feels like one. Movie theatres in India are streaming the match live. Stadiums in Pakistan are setting up big screens for public viewings. For a tournament that began with India and Pakistan's captains not even seated next to each other at the captains' press conference, the Asia Cup has turned into what it was always designed to be: a bilateral series masquerading as a multi-nation tournament, with India-Pakistan matches spread across three straight Sundays this time around.

The bad news is that it is not cricket that has drawn the masses, but the acrimony that surrounds it. Drama sells. The storylines of no handshakes, no press conferences, uncalled for gestures and celebrations, the ICC complaints and sanctions have all piled up, and none of them have been about cricket.

They should have been. They should have been about