Asia Cup: Ranking the Best Moments in Cricketing History

Asia Cup,

The Asia Cup, also known as the ACC Men’s Asia Cup or ACC Cup, is a men’s international cricket event held between Asian countries in either One Day International (50 overs) or Twenty20 International cricket (20 overs) formats. It was launched in 1983 as a gesture to foster goodwill among Asian countries by the Asian Cricket Council. It was originally slated to take place every two years. The Asia Cup is cricket’s sole continental championship, with the winner team crowned Asia’s champion. It alternates between the ODI and T20 forms every two years.

Asia Cup was staged

The first Asia Cup was staged in 1984 at Sharjah, UAE, where the council’s offices were located until 1995. Due to deteriorating cricketing relations with Sri Lanka, India boycotted the 1986 event. Due to deteriorating political relations with India, Pakistan boycotted the 1990-91 tournament, and the 1993 event was cancelled for the same reason. The ACC stated that the tournament would be conducted every two years beginning in 2009.[3] The ICC has declared that all Asia Cup games have official ODI status.

Following the shrinking of the Asian Cricket Council in 2015, the ICC stated that Asia Cup tournaments would be contested in a rotation between One Day International and Twenty20 International formats beginning in 2016.[4] As a result, the 2016 event was the first to be contested in the T20I format, and it served as a warm-up for the 2016 ICC World Twenty20.

India is the tournament’s most successful side, having won seven titles (six ODIs and one T20I). Sri Lanka is the second most successful team, with six titles, while Pakistan has two. Sri Lanka has participated in the most Asia Cups (15), followed by India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh (each with 14).

History

The inaugural Rothmans Asia Cup was held in 1984.[5][6][7][8] in Sharjah, UAE, where the newly founded Asian Cricket Council has its headquarters. The competition featured a round-robin format between India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. The inaugural match was between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, a new ICC member. India won the tournament with two victories, Sri Lanka finished second with a solitary victory over Pakistan, while Pakistan was eliminated without winning either of its two games.[7][8][9]

Sri Lanka hosted the second edition in 1986. India withdrew from the event due to strained cricketing relations with Sri Lanka following a contentious series in Sri Lanka the previous year.

2023

The tournament was given to Pakistan. However, the Indian cricket squad was hesitant to travel to Pakistan to compete in the event. So, after much discussion, India consented to play in a hybrid arrangement in which India will play all of their matches in another country and a few others in Pakistan. As a result, it will be the first Asia Cup co-hosted by different countries; four matches will be played in Pakistan, with the remaining nine matches being played in Sri Lanka.[21] The five full members of the Asian Cricket Council will be joined by Nepal, who will make their ACC Asia Cup debut after qualifying for the first time for the ACC Men’s Premier Cup in 2023. Pakistan, India