Asia Cup 2018: 3 Reasons why India-Bangladesh could be a better final than India-Pakistan

#3 Not the extra Indo-Pak pressure

Unlike the 1980s and 2000s, most Indo-Pak encounters during the 1990s and 2010s have been one-sided

A lot of pressure during India-Pakistan matches can be attributed to the human emotions among people of both the countries. While India and Pakistan have fought many wars, the huge number of terror attacks on India during this century have infuriated the people further. Although many families still reside on both sides of the border, the players on either side are expected to perform to the best of their abilities against each other.

Many people in India and Pakistan, who do not watch cricket, only want to watch India and Pakistan play, and their respective country winning. This is a negative sign for the game, as we witnessed during the 2011 World Cup, when the TV ratings for the India-Pakistan final were ten times higher than those for the India-Sri Lanka final. Both matches between India and Pakistan during this Asia Cup have been one-sided.

True cricketing fans would rather enjoy a well-fought final than a one-sided one. There is no guarantee that Pakistan cannot deliver that sort of a performance, and none either that Bangladesh will. But the lack of that extra pressure of playing a country and dealing with emotions, rather than that of playing a big match for your country - is a major reason that makes India-Bangladesh a better cricketing rivalry - even if not in terms of emotions.