Asia Cup established back in 1983, when Asian Cricket Council was formed and the first event hosted by UAE back in 1984. Sharjah was also the Head Quarter of the newly formed organization called Asian Cricket Council. In first edition teams from Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India participated in a round robin format. India won the inaugural tournament and Sri Lanka was the runner up of the event, while Pakistan went winless in the event.
The Second Edition of the tournament was organized in Sri Lanka in which India boycotted due to some political constraints in between both countries. In this edition Bangladesh was inducted for the first time. Pakistan once again failed to win the competition as they lost their final against the hosts.
The third edition was hosted by Bangladesh, first of its kind of the event hosted by Bangladesh; India took part in the event and ended as a winner of tournament for the 2nd time.
Fourth edition was to host India in 1991 and in this edition Pakistan pulled out of the tournament due to political instability between India-Pakistan. Once again India finished the event as the champions for the third time out of four. 1993’s edition was cancelled due to continuous instability between India and Pakistan.
Fifth edition hosted by the Sharjah, UAE in which India became again champions of the competition after defeating Sri Lanka and Sixth Edition was won by Sri Lanka at their home soil after surpassing India for the second time in the competition history and stopped long run of India of winning the trophy.
In 2000, Bangladesh hosted the Seventh Asia Cup and Pakistan became the champions for the first after some brilliant batting display by Muhammad Yousuf in the competition, also he was awarded player of the tournament. Pakistan defeated the defending champions.
Eighth Asia Cup was organized in 2004, with the addition of two more Asian teams, UAE and Hong Kong with different format, in this format 6 teams divided in to two groups and also super 4 was introduced in which top 2 teams from each group to play further games to qualify for the final of the event. In the final, Sri Lanka defeated India by 25 runs to win the Asia Cup. Jayasuriya was the player of the Tournament.
The ninth edition was hosted by Pakistan for the first time in 2008, the same format was retained and in the final Sri Lanka won the final after defeating India by 100 with the help of their mystery spinner Mendis who took 6 wickets in that game.
Sri Lanka was the host of 10th edition in 2010 and in the final, India beat Sri Lanka easily to become champions for the fifth time. 2012 and 2014 Asia Cup was hosted by the Bangladesh; Pakistan & Sri Lanka won the finals respectively. In 2012 final Pakistan defeated Bangladesh the hosts in a close encounter, in the same Edition Bangladesh defeated India and Sri Lanka in round games. In 2014’s Edition Afghanistan was introduced for the first time in the competition, the final was played between Sri Lanka and Pakistan. It was Sri Lanka’s 5th time to win the Asia Cup.
In 2016 Asian Cricket Council decided to organize the Edition with respect to World T20 as a T20 format which will definitely help participating teams. It was third consecutive time that Bangladesh is hosting the competition, and they also qualified for the final but eventually ended as a runner, while India became the first champion in this format of Asia Cup.
Overall India has won 6, Sri Lanka 5 and Pakistan 2 Asia Cup till date, and now they are eyeing for another Asia Cup to be played from 15th of the September to 28th of the September in United Arab Emirates. Six teams are participating India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and the qualifying team from Hong Kong.
Records
183- The highest score by any batsman in Asia Cup ODI format did by Virat Kohli against Pakistan in 2012.
378- The most runs in any single edition by Santh Jayasuriya, during the 2008 edition and was the player of the tournament as well.
6- Times Sanath Jayasuriya crossed the magical mark of 100 runs in the completion from 1990 to 2008.
12- Fifty Plus runs made by Kumar Sangakkara in the competition which is still a record.
170- This is the Strike Rate of Shahid Afridi, who is well known because of his hard hitting and this record is definitely suggesting us about his Boom Boom style of batting.
224- The best partnership of the competition till date was in between Muhammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed in the year 2012 against India for the first wicket.
6/13- The best bowling figure by any bowler, which is Ajantha Mendis, who had this brilliant bowling spell against India in the final of 2008 Asia Cup.
17- The number of wickets taken in a single edition by any bowler and once again it was Ajantha Mendis in 2008.
385- Pakistan managed to make this record against Bangladesh in 2010.
87- The lowest score of any team in the Asia Cup, It was Bangladesh who failed miserably against quality bowling of Pakistan.
1220- Most runs made by Sanath Jayasuriya in all time Asia Cup batsmen list.
30- Wickets taken by Muttiah Muralitharan is leading wicket taker in Asia Cup.
Prediction
Group A- India and Pakistan to win their games against Hong Kong, on 19th September India may lose their game against Pakistan.
Group B- Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will win their games against Afghanistan and Sri Lanka will be going to win against Bangladesh as well.
Super4 – India and Pakistan to remain top 2 of this round.
Final – India and Pakistan to play the final game of the competition and which may be won by India.
These predictions are being made by the writer.
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