India, Feb. 4 -- Ravichandran Ashwin wants to watch the India-Pakistan "encounter" too - but not for the usual fever-dream reasons. On his YouTube channel, the former India spinner framed it as a pressure-cooker of cricket, commerce and narrative, where the game is often the last thing on the table.

Ashwin's point was blunt: Pakistan don't just have to beat the opponent on the day. They are forced to fight the story around the match as well - the politics, the public emotion, the "you can't lose to India" messaging - and it all bleeds into how they play.

"I want to see the India-Pakistan encounter because, see, there are a lot of business decisions in this," Ashwin said. "Because they always have to fight that the team they are playing ...