The stage is set for one of cricket’s most charged encounters. On Sunday, India and Pakistan will meet in an Asia Cup final for the very first time in the tournament’s 41-year history, a clash that promises to be as much about temperament and pride as it is about runs and wickets.

Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson brushed aside the weight of back-to-back defeats to their arch-rivals, insisting that the only result that truly matters is the one that will unfold in Sunday’s final. India have beaten them twice already in this edition, once by seven wickets in the group stage on September 14, then again by six wickets in the Super 4s on September 21. But Hesson put up a brave face, suggesting that those defeats are a thing of the past.

Advertisement

“We know that we played on the 14th. We pla

See Full Page