Asia Cup is a cricket game played between the Asian Countries. It was first played in 1984 with three teams India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It is played in two 50 overs (ODI) and 20 overs (T20).
India won the most number of titles = 7 (6 ODI + 1 T20). Sri Lanka is in 2nd place with 6 titles (5 ODI + 1 T20) whereas Pakistan has 2 ODI titles.
Every two years this Asia Cup is played. After the 2014 Asia Cup, it was announced that the Asia Cup will be played in T20 and ODI format alternatively. Therefore in 2016 it was the first time when the tournament was played in the T20 format. India was the inaugural winner in both T20 and ODI format.
In the history of the Asia Cup, India boycotted this tournament in 1986 when it was played in Sri Lanka due to some cricketing disturbances between the two nations. During the 1990-91 season, Pakistan refused to play the Asia Cup due to the political tension with India. And also the 1993 season, the tournament was canceled due to the same reason. Therefore Sri Lanka played the most number of times (15) while India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka (14) came next.
Asia Cup Year Wise:
1984:
The first ever Asia Cup takes place. India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were the only three teams who participated in the contest. Sri Lanka was newly associated with the ICC. The first tournament was named the Rothmans Asia Cup. The cup took place at Sharjah, UAE.
It was a round robin tournament. India won the two matches while Sri Lanka won only one and Pakistan lost both their matches. As a result, India became the inaugural champion in this event. Surinder Khanna became the man of the match.
1986:
It’s the second edition of the Asia Cup also known as the John Player Gold Leaf Trophy. Tournament takes place in Sri Lanka. India didn’t participate in this tournament due to some rift between India and Sri Lanka. Also in Sri Lanka there was a civil war going on between Government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which was highly bloody during the 80’s, therefore it was the other security reason India didn’t go there.
India was the defending champion but they didn’t come to play. Bangladesh came to play for the first time in the Asia Cup as they qualified after winning the 1984 South-East Asia Cup.
Three teams were Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Sri Lanka won the final match after beating Pakistan in the final by 7 wickets. Arjuna Ranatunga from Sri Lanka was the player of the series.
1988:
It’s the third edition played in Bangladesh. The tournament is also known as the Wills Asia Cup. first time when all the four Asian countries were present to play the Cup.
Sri Lanka dominated the league stages by winning all the three matches whereas India won two matches out of three. Pakistan was only able to win one match whereas Bangladesh couldn’t open their winning account.
Final played between India and Sri Lanka where India dominated the match and won the final by 6 wickets. Navjot Singh Sidhu was the player of the series. India gets their 2nd Asia Cup title.
1990:
Fourth edition of the Title played in India. This time Pakistan didn’t participate in the tournament due to the political tension that arose between Pakistan and the hosting nation. Therefore once again the tournament was played between the three ICC members i.e. India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Once again Sri Lanka dominated the league by winning their matches against India and Bangladesh. India won one while once again Bangladesh wasn’t able to open their account.
Final was played between India and Sri Lanka. With the help of Kapil Dev’s hattrick, India restricted the Lankans in 204/9 runs which the hosting nation chased it pretty easily with 7 wickets in hand. Mohd Azharuddin gets the player of the match in the final. India gets their 3rd title.
1993:
This time the Asia Cup didn’t happen since there were highly political tensions between India and Pakistan. The tournament got cancelled.
1995:
The 5th edition was also known as the Pepsi Asia Cup. It was played for the 2nd time in Sharjah, UAE after the inaugural title matches. Also the second time when all the ICC Asian members were playing all together.
In the league stages- India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka all were having four points. But India and Sri Lanka have better net run rate than Pakistan, therefore both of them go into the final. Bangladesh again fails to get their first victory in this format.
In the final India easily got the victory over Sri Lanka by defeating them by 8 wickets. Full dominating performance shown by India in the final. Navjot Singh Sidhu was the player of the series.
India made a hat trick of winning the title.
1997:
The sixth edition was again known as the Pepsi Asia Cup. It was held in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka again shows their dominance in the league stages by winning all the matches in the league stages. India and Pakistan have three points each but due to better net run rate India advances to the final. Bangladesh were unable to open their victory account in the Asia Cup.
In the final, Sri Lanka this time showed no mercy and got the victory one sided and defeated India by 8 wickets. Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu both get a destructive start. And at last Arjuna Ranatunga gets the final touch of the victory. Arjuna Ranatunga gets the player of the series award.
This was Sri Lanka’s 2nd title.
2000:
7th season of the Asia Cup held in Bangladesh. It was again known as the Pepsi Asia Cup. All the four teams participate in this tournament.
For the very first time Pakistan topped the league stage with three wins in three matches while Sri Lanka got second place after they won two games in three matches. India for the first time in the history couldn’t make it to the final. India played every final from the starting except in 1986 where they didn’t play. India only manages to win against Bangladesh and Bangladesh gets only sadness as their victory department goes nil.
In the final, Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by 39 runs and got their first ever title in this tournament. Despite Marvan Atapattu century in the final couldn’t help his team to get par the target. Yousuf Youhana gets the Man of the Series.
2004:
The 8th season was held in Sri Lanka. It was also known as the Indian Oil Asia Cup. The tournament was held in 2004 as previously all the matches were held after a two year gap.
For the very first time six teams participated in this tournament. The two new teams were Hong Kong and United Arab Emirates (UAE). The tournament takes place in three rounds. Previously it was a round table tournament. In the first round there will be two groups and in each group three teams will be there. Then the Super Fours round where the top two teams from each group advances to the Super Fours and all the teams will play against each other once. In the Final only the top two teams from the Super Fours will advance.
Group A: Pakistan, Bangladesh and Hong Kong.
Group B: India, Sri Lanka and UAE.
Pakistan and Bangladesh from their group advances to the Super Fours while India and Sri Lanka from their group move to the next round. Bangladesh first time ever won any match in the Asia Cup and that was against Hong Kong. In the Super Fours stage, Sri Lanka topped the table while India got 2nd position. Pakistan got the same wins as India and Sri Lanka but India and Sri Lanka got some bonus points due to which they were able to qualify for the finals. Bangladesh again performed badly and no win was credited in his account in the Super Fours.
In the Final, Sri Lanka beat India by 25 runs and got their third title. Sri Lanka with the help of Atapattu and Sangakkara’s fifty managed to put 228/9 in 50 overs. India with the help of Sachin Tendulkar 74 runs able to put only 203/9 in 50 overs. Sanath Jayasuriya was the man of the series.
2008:
The 9th season was held in Pakistan. It was also known as Star Cricket Asia Cup. The first time Pakistan got the chance to represent the tournament in their place. Earlier it was supposed to be in 1993 that Pakistan got the opportunity but due to political tensions between India and Pakistan at that time, as a result the tournament got cancelled.
Earlier the tournament was supposed to be held in 2006 but due to highly tight international matches and tournament it was postponed.
Again six teams took part in this contest.
Group A: Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and UAE.
Group B: India, Pakistan and Hong Kong.
Sri Lanka and Bangladesh finished 1st and 2nd respectively in their group while India and Pakistan finished 1st and 2nd respectively in their respective groups. UAE and Hong Kong were unable to win any matches. In the Super Fours stage, Sri Lanka and India went to the finals. While Pakistan also gets the same number of wins as the finalist teams but they were lacking in points carried forward as a result as they have to be eliminated. Bangladesh with no win finishes 4th in the Super Fours.
In the Final, Sri Lanka just destroyed the Indian batting lineup and won the match by 100 runs. Sri Lanka after batting first, with the help of Sanath Jayasuriya’s superb knock of 125 runs in 114 balls posted 273/10 in 50 overs and India in reply made 173/10 in 40 overs. Ajantha Mendis from Sri Lanka grabbed 6 crucial wickets and gave away only 13 runs in his 8 overs spell. Ajantha Mendis got the Man of the Series.
2010:
The 10th season was held in Sri Lanka. It was also known as the Micromax Asia Cup.
Again the former format was opted and only countries took part in it. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were the teams who played in this. All the teams played against each other once. Sri Lanka won all the matches in his league stages whereas India came 2nd after winning 2 games in 3 matches. Pakistan was in 3rd spot with a single victory over Bangladesh. And Bangladesh again failed to get any win in the league stages.
Final was played against India and Sri Lanka. After winning the toss, India made 268/6 in 50 overs with the help of Dinesh Karthik half century who scored 66 runs in 84 balls. During chasing, wickets fell at regular intervals and Sri Lanka made 187/10 runs in 45th over. India won the final by 81 runs. India won the Asia Cup after 15 years, last they won in 1995 against Sri Lanka.
2012:
The 11th season was held in Bangladesh. It was also known as the Micromax Asia Cup. Bangladesh got the opportunity to represent the Asia Cup after 12 years, last it was held in 2000.
Again the four teams – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh played against each other. In this year’s Asia Cup, Bangladesh performed brilliantly and reached the final for the first time in the history of the Asia Cup. Pakistan topped the league stages with 9 points while Bangladesh and India both have same (8) points but in the league stage Bangladesh defeated India by 5 wickets, as a result Bangladesh was given preference to play the final. Sri Lanka lost all three matches and for the first time ever they couldn’t make it to the finals.
In the finals, Bangladesh gets defeated by Pakistan in a close contest by 2 runs. Since Bengal Tigers played their 1st ever Asia Cup final, therefore they tried very hard to win that but unfortunately they couldn’t get the targeted score. Pakistan won their 2nd Asia Cup.
Firstly Bangladesh won the toss and they were elected to bowl first. With the help of Sarfaraz Ahmed (46) runs and Mohd Hafeez (40) runs, Pakistan somehow managed to put 236/9 in 50 overs. In reply to this Bangladesh showed some great knocks of Shakib Al Hasan (68 runs) and Tamim Iqbal (60 runs), but still they didn’t touch the finishing line and scored 234/8 in 50 overs. The dream of the Bangladesh team to win their first ever title vanished.
Shakib Al Hasan was awarded the player of the series.
It was also remembered to be the most iconic tournament since Sachin Tendulkar scored his 100th international century in this Asia Cup. Also Sachin plays his last international ODI in this tournament only.
2014:
The 12th season of the Asia Cup was held in Bangladesh again. It was also known as the Arise Asia Cup. For the first time ever, Afghanistan was included in this tournament.
So the number of teams were five – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. There were 10 matches in the league stage. All the teams played against each other once in this tournament. Sri Lanka topped the chart with all the wins in their 4 matches having 17 points. Pakistan remained 2nd in the group stage with three wins in four matches having 13 points. India was in 3rd with 2 wins and having 9 points. Afghanistan , who played their first tournament also got one victory and that was against Bangladesh. Bangladesh lost all their matches in the league stages.
After winning the toss, Pakistan elected to bat first. With the help of Fawad Alam’s (114 runs) great knocks Pakistan put up 260/5 in 50 overs. Sri Lanka easily chased down the target in 47th over with the help of Lahiru Thirimanne’s (101 runs) innings and was highly supported by Mahela Jayawardene (75 runs). With this win Sri Lanka equalled the record of most number of titles held along with India.
Lahiru Thirimanne was named as the player of the series.
2016:
The 13th season of the Asia Cup was again held in Bangladesh and it was the hattrick that the same country hosted the tournament.
ICC reduced the number of employees in ACC (Asian Cricket Council) in 2015 and sorted that the Asia Cup tournaments will be played in a rotation. In one season ODIs format will be played while the other season T20 format will be played. Therefore 2016, was the first time when the Asia Cup was played in the T20 format.
Again five teams were there but this time United Arab Emirates (UAE) played and they came through the qualifiers. The five teams were India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and UAE. This time India topped the chart with all the four wins in four matches having 16 points while Bangladesh came 2nd in the league stage and secured 12 points after winning three games in 4 matches. Pakistan came 3rd with 8 points (2 wins) while Bangladesh with only 4 points (1 win). UAE was unable to open their victory account in this format.
In the final, the match was reduced to 15 overs. India after winning the toss goes for field first. After Mahmudullah’s destruction (33 runs in 13 balls) in the end, Bangladesh managed to score 120/5 in 15 overs. India gets an easy victory by Dhawan’s knock. He scored 60 runs which includes 9 fours and a six. At the end, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni finish things in style. As a result India won the match by 8 wickets.
Sabbir Rahman from Bangladesh was declared Player of the Series.
After winning this title India again gained a lead by winning Asia Cup 6th time (5 ODI and 1 T20) surpassing Sri Lanka who had 5 titles.
2018:
It’s the 14th season which was held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It was also known as the Unimoni Asia Cup. Earlier the tournament was to be played in India, but due to political tensions between India and Pakistan it was finally shifted to UAE.
Six teams participated in it – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Hong Kong (who came through the Qualifiers). Two groups were created.
Group A: India, Pakistan and Hong Kong.
Group B: Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
In Group A, India and Pakistan were 1st and 2nd respectively. India had four points with 2 wins in 2 matches while Pakistan had 2 points with 1 win in 2 matches. Hong Kong both of his group matches. In Group B, Afghanistan and Bangladesh stand 1st and 2nd respectively. Afghanistan was having four points with 2 wins in 2 matches and Bangladesh was having 2 points with 1 win in 2 matches. Sri Lanka however lost both of their group matches.
In the Super Fours round, India and Bangladesh stood 1st and 2nd respectively. India grabbed 5 points in 3 matches with 2 wins and a tie. Bangladesh got 4 points in 3 matches with 2 wins and a loss. Pakistan was in 3rd spot with a single win in 3 matches. Afghanistan lost all their super fours matches.
In the final, India won the toss and they elected to field. Bangladesh with the help of Liton Das century managed to put 222/10 in 48.3 overs. India during the chase, no one was able to score big but with small knocks of Rohit Sharma (48 runs), Dinesh Karthik (37 runs) and MS Dhoni (36 runs) got par the target in the last ball and won the match by 3 wickets.
Shikhar Dhawan won the Player of the Series. India from group stage to final never lost any match in the 2018 title.
2020:
Due to Covid-19 pandemic, the 15th season was postponed to 2021.
2021:
This time the Asia Cup was played to be in Sri Lanka but due to the rising covid cases in Sri Lanka the series was shifted to the 2022 in UAE.
2022:
Finally after much too much of waiting the 15th season was played in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Due to covid, in 2020 and 2021 tournaments got postponed. It was also known as the DP World Asia Cup. It was in T20 format.
Six teams took part in it – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Hong Kong. Two Groups were created.
Group A: India, Pakistan and Hong Kong.
Group B: Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.
In Group A, India led the chart with two wins in two matches and scored 4 points. Pakistan was just below India as they won one in two matches and secured 2 points. Hong Kong was unable to fetch any win and was at the lowest in the table. In Group B, Afghanistan topped the table with two wins in two matches. Sri Lanka came next with one win in two matches. Bangladesh was unable to win any matches.
In Super Fours – India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka were there. In Super Fours, Sri Lanka ranked 1st as they won all the three and secured 6 points. Pakistan was in 2nd spot with two wins in three matches and got 4 points. India remains in the 3rd spot having won only one match in 3 games and have 2 points. Afghanistan couldn’t win any match in the Super Fours.
In the final, Pakistan won the toss and they opted to field first. Sri Lanka put 170/6 runs in 20 overs. Bhanuka Rajapaksa scored a brilliant knock of 71 runs in 45 balls which includes 6 fours and 3 sixes. Pakistan while chasing were unable to chase down the target and scored only 147/10 runs in 20 overs. Mohd Rizwan was the top scorer with 55 runs from their side. As a result, Sri Lanka won the match by 23 runs.
Wanindu Hasaranga from Sri Lanka gets the Player of the Series award.
2023:
The 16th season of the Asia Cup will be played at Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It will be the first time that the tournament will be played in two different countries.
Firstly the whole tournament was to be played at Pakistan but due to certain security issues raised by India most of the matches were shifted to Sri Lanka. Earlier it was supposed to be cancelled as none of the decisions came but later on when all the members of the respective countries meet, then finally a solution came under which the 4 matches will be played in Pakistan and remaining 13 matches will be played in Sri Lanka including the final. India will not play any match in Pakistan.
There will be two Groups.
In Group A: India, Pakistan and Nepal.
In group B: Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
Nepal was included as he won the ACC Men’s Premier Cup.
Most Runs in Asia Cup:
| Player | Matches | Innings | Runs | Average | 100/50 | Highest Score |
| Sanath Jayasuriya (SL) | 25 | 24 | 1220 | 53.04 | 6/3 | 130 |
| Kumar Sangakkara (SL) | 24 | 23 | 1075 | 48.86 | 4/8 | 121 |
| Sachin Tendulkar (IND) | 23 | 21 | 971 | 51.10 | 2/7 | 114 |
| Shoaib Malik (PAK) | 21 | 15 | 786 | 65.50 | 3/3 | 143 |
| Rohit Sharma (IND) | 22 | 21 | 745 | 46.56 | 1/6 | 111 |
| Arjuna Ranatunga (SL) | 19 | 19 | 741 | 57.00 | 1/6 | 131 |
| Musfiqur Rahim (BAN) | 21 | 21 | 699 | 36.78 | 2/2 | 144 |
| Mahela Jayawardene (SL) | 28 | 26 | 674 | 29.30 | 0/7 | 78 |
| MS Dhoni (IND) | 19 | 16 | 648 | 64.80 | 1/3 | 109 |
| Aravinda de Silva (SL) | 24 | 22 | 645 | 32.25 | 0/4 | 96 |
| Marvan Atapattu (SL) | 13 | 12 | 642 | 64.20 | 1/6 | 100 |
| Virat Kohli (IND) | 11 | 10 | 613 | 61.30 | 3/1 | 183 |
| Inzamam-ul-Haq (PAK) | 15 | 13 | 591 | 59.10 | 0/6 | 88 |
| Gautam Gambhir (IND) | 13 | 13 | 573 | 44.07 | 1/5 | 100 |
| Suresh Raina (IND) | 13 | 13 | 547 | 60.77 | 2/3 | 116 |
| Younis Khan (PAK) | 14 | 13 | 546 | 49.63 | 2/3 | 144 |
| Shikhar Dhawan (IND) | 9 | 9 | 534 | 59.33 | 2/2 | 127 |
| Shahid Afridi (PAK) | 23 | 21 | 532 | 35.46 | 2/1 | 124 |
| Navjot Sidhu (IND) | 14 | 12 | 530 | 66.25 | 1/6 | 104 |
| Tamim Iqbal (BAN) | 13 | 13 | 519 | 43.25 | 0/6 | 70 |
Most Wickets in Asia Cup:
| Player | Matches | Innings | Wickets | Average | Economy | Best Figures |
| Muthaih Muralidharan (SL) | 24 | 24 | 30 | 28.83 | 3.75 | 5/31 |
| Lasith Malinga (SL) | 14 | 14 | 29 | 20.55 | 4.65 | 5/34 |
| Ajantha Mendis (SL) | 8 | 8 | 26 | 10.42 | 3.98 | 6/13 |
| Saeed Ajmal (PAK) | 12 | 12 | 25 | 19.40 | 4.21 | 3/26 |
| Chaminda Vaas (SL) | 19 | 19 | 23 | 27.78 | 4.19 | 3/30 |
| Irfan Pathan (IND) | 12 | 12 | 22 | 27.50 | 5.54 | 4/32 |
| Sanath Jayasuriya (SL) | 25 | 21 | 22 | 30.31 | 4.48 | 4/49 |
| Abdur Razzak (BAN) | 18 | 18 | 22 | 36.18 | 4.67 | 3/17 |
| Ravindra Jadeja (IND) | 14 | 14 | 19 | 26.57 | 4.34 | 4/29 |
| Shakib Al Hasan (BAN) | 13 | 13 | 19 | 32.73 | 4.87 | 4/42 |
| Mashrafe Mortaza (BAN) | 19 | 19 | 18 | 48.22 | 5.69 | 2/25 |
| Abdul Qadir (PAK) | 8 | 8 | 17 | 14.76 | 3.62 | 3/15 |
| Sachin Tendulkar (IND) | 23 | 15 | 17 | 21.41 | 4.76 | 3/21 |
| Wasim Akram | 12 | 12 | 16 | 18.56 | 3.22 | 4/19 |
| Abdul Razzaq (PAK) | 11 | 11 | 16 | 20.18 | 4.28 | 4/29 |
| Kapil Dev (IND) | 7 | 7 | 15 | 13.00 | 3.56 | 4/31 |
| Ravi Ratnayeke (SL) | 9 | 9 | 15 | 21.00 | 4.31 | 4/23 |
| Nuwan Zoysa (SL) | 8 | 8 | 14 | 19.78 | 4.01 | 3/29 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin (IND) | 7 | 7 | 14 | 22.71 | 4.63 | 3/31 |
| Umar Gul (PAK) | 11 | 11 | 14 | 35.35 | 5.80 | 3/58 |
Profile Credits: ESPNcricinfo.com