The Fifteenth edition of the Asia Cup is all set to be finally played in 2022. The tournament which was to be held in Srilanka has now shifted to a new venue i.e., UAE. The schedule initially was for September 2020 but was postponed to 2022 because of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Finally, after the wait of two long years, the tournament is all set to take place and we are expecting it to be as exciting.
India has been the most successful team in the tournament. They have won it seven times and will be chasing their eighth title. Before that happens, let’s take a look at the history of a team’s wins over the years in the tournament.
1984
Just after India won the World Cup in 1983, the newly formed ACC decided to host a tournament called Asia Cup that had 3 nations participating in it. India, Pakistan, and Srilanka. The tournament took place in UAE, and only had 3 matches i.e, one match between each team.
Pakistan lost to Srilanka in their first game, while India beat Srilanka. For the win, Pakistan had to beat India by a huge margin which they couldn’t. India won the decider match by 54 runs even after scoring a measly total of 188. Surinder Khanna was given the Player of the match award.
1988
The third Asia Cup competition took place in Bangladesh between October 26 and November 4, 1988. The competition included four teams: Bangladesh, the host country, Sri Lanka, and India. The games were the first List A-classified matches ever played in Bangladesh, which was back then an Associate Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC), with Full Members as its opponents.
Each team played the other three teams once in a round-robin format for the 1988 Asia Cup, with the top two teams qualifying for the final. India and Sri Lanka both made it to the Asia Cup final, where India won by a margin of six wickets over Sri Lanka.
1990-91
The fourth Asia Cup competition took place in India from December 25, 1990, to January 4, 1991. The event featured three teams: Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and India, the top associate member in Asia. Pakistan had withdrawn from the competition because of tense political ties with India.
Each team played the other once in a round-robin format for the 1990–91 Asia Cup, with the top two teams qualifying for the championship game. India and Sri Lanka both made it to the Asia Cup final, where India defeated Sri Lanka by seven wickets to win their second straight and third overall title.
1995
The fifth Asia Cup competition took place in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, for the second time. The competition was held from April 5 to April 14, 1995. The event featured India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh as the four participating teams.
Each team played the other once in a round-robin, with the top two teams qualifying for the championship game. At the conclusion of the round-robin stage, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka all had four points, however, India and Sri Lanka advanced to the championship game due to their superior run rates.
India won the Asia Cup for a record-tying third consecutive and fourth time overall by defeating Sri Lanka by an impressive 8 wickets.
2010
The tenth Asia Cup cricket competition took place in Sri Lanka from June 15 to June 24, 2010. Only the nations that play test matches—India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh—were competing.
In the final, India defeated Sri Lanka by 81 runs under the captaincy of MS Dhoni to win the Asia Cup for a record-tying fifth time and after a wait of 15 long years. India went on to win the 2011 World Cup after this.
2016
The Asia Cup 2016 took place in Bangladesh from February 24 to March 6, 2016. The T20I format was used for the first time in the 13th edition of the trophy.
India, Pakistan, and ICC associate members of the United Arab Emirates competed in the tournament together with the hosts Bangladesh and defending champions Sri Lanka from 2014.
India, which went undefeated throughout the competition, defeated Bangladesh by 8 wickets in the final to claim their sixth Asia Cup championship.
2018
2018 Asia Cup took place in the United Arab Emirates in September 2018 in ODI format.
The event featured participation from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, the five full members of the Asian Cricket Council along with Hong Kong who qualified for the tournament later on.
The defending champions, India successfully defended their title by defeating Bangladesh in the finals by a margin of three wickets under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma.
India is the most successful team of the tournament. The last time India lifted the trophy, it was under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy. This year too, Rohit will be leading the team as full-time captain. With youngsters in form, we can expect India to win the trophy for the third consecutive time.
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