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Asia Cup – Teams And History
Established in the year 1983, the Asia Cup is a men’s limited-overs tournament. It was established after the Asian Cricket Council was found as a measure to promote good relations between Asian countries. This tournament was originally scheduled to be held every two years.
The first-ever Asia Cup tournament was hosted by the UAE in Sharjah, where until 1995 the council offices were also based. In the year 1986, India boycotted the tournament due to a draining relationship with Sri Lanka. In 1990-91, Pakistan boycotted the tournament due to political unrest with India, due to which even the tournament was canceled in 1993. The ICC eventually ruled the all games played in the Asia Cup have official ODI status and the Asian Cricket Council announced that the tournament will be held biennially from 2009 onwards.
The Asian Cricket Council was downsized in the year 2015, following which the ICC announced that the Asia Cup would be played on a rotational basis between One day International and T20 International format from 2016. Due to which, the 2016 event turned out to be the first-ever event to be played in the T20I format and functioned as preparation for the 2016 ICC World Twenty20.
Let us dive into the history books to find out a little more about the tournament:
1984 -1988 (Early Days)
The first tournament of the Rothmans Asia Cup was played in 1984 in Sharjah, UAE, where the headquarters of the newly formed Asian Cricket Council was also established. This was organized as a round-robin tournament among India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. The first match was played between Pakistan and the latest Sri Lanka. India won this tournament with two wins, Sri Lanka finished as the runners up in the tournament with one victory over Pakistan, while Pakistan went home without winning any of its two games.
Bangladesh was included for the first time in the year 1986, India boycotted the tournament following the strained relationship With Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka beat Pakistan in the final and won the tournament.
Bangladesh hosted the third edition in the year 1988, making it the first-ever multi-national cricket tournament to be hosted there. India beat Sri Lanka in the final by 6 wickets to win their second title.
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1990 – 1997 (Years of Unrest)
India hosted the 4th edition of the tournament in 1990-91. This time Pakistan boycotted the tournament due to some Political unrest with India. India eventually won the tournament by defeating Sri Lanka in the final.
After the tournament got canceled in 1993, the 5th edition was played in Sharjah, UAE in 1995, and for the third consecutive time, India beat Sri Lanka in the final and won the tournament.
Sri Lanka hosted the tournament in the year 1997 and also won the tournament by beating India in the final to win its second title.
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2000 – 2010 (Progressive years)
Bangladesh hosted the 7th edition in the year 2000. India won only one match in the tournament against Bangladesh and could not qualify for the final first time. Pakistan beat Sri Lanka to win their first title.
Sri Lanka hosted the 8th edition in 2004. This time there was a change in the format of the tournament as UAE and Hong Kong were included for the first time and the tournament was now divided into three different stages – first being the Group Stage then Super Fours and eventually the final. The group stage was initially divided into two groups of 3 teams, each playing each other once. The top two teams from each group would then go on to qualify for the Super Four stage where they would play each other again for the second time. The top two teams in the Super Four stage would then qualify for the final. India and Sri Lanka finished on the top of the Super Four stage and reached the final. Sri Lanka beat India by 25 runs to win the Asia Cup title.
Four years later, Pakistan got to host the 9th edition of the tournament where the 2004 format was retained. For the second consecutive time, India and Sri Lanka made it to the final and Sri Lanka beat India in the final, Courtesy mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis who took 6/13 to lead his team to a 100-run victory.
The 10th edition featured only four test playing nations. Sri Lanka hosted the tournament. India beat Sri Lanka in the final to win their fifth title, they also won for the first time in 15 years.
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2012 – 2016 (Modern Era)
The eleventh edition was hosted by Bangladesh. This time, Bangladesh beat both India and Sri Lanka to qualify for the final first time in the history of the tournament. Pakistan beat Bangladesh in a nail-biting match to win their second title.
The twelfth edition was again held in Bangladesh. This time, Afghanistan was included for the first time along with the other four test playing nations. Sri Lanka won their fifth title by defeating Pakistan by 5 wickets in the final.
Asian Cricket Council was downsized by the ICC in 2015, following which it was announced that Asia Cup tournaments will be played on a rotational basis in both ODI and T20I format. As a result, the 13th edition in 2016 was the first tournament in T20I format and was played between five teams including UAE right before the 2016 ICC World Twenty20. The 2016 edition was held in Bangladesh for the third consecutive time. India won the final by defeating Bangladesh by 8 wickets winning their sixth title.
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2018 (India’s Dominance)
BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur stated that the 2018 edition of the tournament would be held in India on 29 October 2015, following the Asian Cricket Council meeting in Singapore. The tournament was supposed to be played in the ODI format. However, in April 2018, the tournament was moved to the United Arab Emirates, due to political unrest between India and Pakistan. India entering the tournament as the defending champions retained their title, after beating Bangladesh by 3 wickets in the final. India dominated the tournament by winning every match, with 2 wins each against Pakistan & Bangladesh, a solitary win against Hong Kong, and a tie against Afghanistan.
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India is the most successful team in the tournament with seven titles which include six ODI tournaments and one T20 tournament. Sri Lanka is at number 2 with five wins to their credit. Sri Lanka is also the team to play the most number of Asia Cup tournaments (14). Both Pakistan and India have missed one tournament, respectively.
Tell us about more interesting facts about the Asia Cup in the comments below, we will wait!
