The Asia Cup is an international cricket tournament. It was conceived in 1983 when the Asian Cricket Council was created as a measure to promote goodwill between Asian countries. It was originally scheduled to be held every two years. The first edition was held in 1984 in Sharjah, UAE where the council's offices were based (until 1995). The International Cricket Council has ruled that all games played for the Asia Cup have official One Day International status. India along with Sri Lanka has lifted the Asia cup the most times (4). India appeared in every final apart from the 1986 (India pulled out due to strained cricketing relations with Sri Lanka), 1993 (when it was cancelled due to strained political relations between India and Pakistan) and 2000 cups. Sri Lanka, however, have appeared in every final since the cup's inception.

The ACC have announced that the tournament will be held biennially from 2008 onwards.

History

The first edition of the Asia Cup was held in 1984 in Sharjah, UAE, the location of the headquarters of the newly formed Asian Cricket Council. The first match was Pakistan vs the new ICC member Sri Lanka. The tournament was a round-robin tournament between India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. India won this tournament with two victories

Sri Lanka was the host for the second edition, this was the first multi-national cricket series to be held there. India had pulled out of the tournament due to soured cricketing relations with Sri Lanka after a controversial series in Sri Lanka the previous year. Bangladesh was included for the 1st time. Sri Lanka won the cup in the final beating Pakistan.

The third edition was held in Bangladesh, the first time that a multi-national cricket tournament was held there. In the final, India beat Sri Lanka by 6 wickets and won their 2nd Asia Cup.

The fourth edition was held in India. Pakistan had pulled out of the tournament due to strained political relations with India. India retained its hold on the Cup defeating Sri Lanka in the final.

The fifth edition took the series back to Sharjah after 11 years. India and Sri Lanka made it to the final by virtue of better runrate than Pakistan as all three teams had equal points after preliminary round. For the third successive time in the Asia Cup, India defeated Sri Lanka in the final.

The sixth edition was held in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka beat India in the final by 8 wickets to win its 2nd Asia Cup and halt India's three consecutive cup victories.

The seventh edition took place in Bangladesh for the 2nd time. Pakistan and Sri Lanka made it to the final while India only won one match against Bangladesh and did not qualify for the final for the 1st time. In the final, Pakistan beat Sri Lanka and lifted the Asia Cup for the 1st time.

The eighth edition took place in Sri Lanka four years after the seventh edition in 2000. There was a change in the tournament format this time. Other Asian teams like UAE and Hong Kong were also included for the first time and the tournament was now divided into 3 stages – the group stage, the knockout Super Fours and the final. The group stage was divided into 2 groups of 3 teams, each playing each other once. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the Super Four stage where they play each other again once. The top two teams in the Super Four stage will then qualify for the final. Hosts Sri Lanka, India and UAE were placed in Group A while then defending champion Pakistan, Bangladesh and Hong Kong were placed in Group B.

Sri Lanka and Pakistan topped their respective groups and as expected, UAE and Hong Kong were knocked out in the group stage. Bangladesh had the distinction of reaching the knockout stage in a major tournament for the first time, but played poorly in the Super Fours and got eliminated. India and Sri Lanka topped the Super Four stage and reached the final. In the final, Sri Lanka defeated India by 25 runs to win the Asia Cup.

The ninth edition of the Asia Cup was held in Pakistan. Once again, the 2004 format was retained. The tournament started on June 24 2008 and ended on July 6 2008. Sri Lanka topped Group A and qualified for the second phase along with Bangladesh. In Group B, India came out on top and entered the Super Fours along with Pakistan in second place. Sri Lanka and India topped the Super Four stage and entered the final. Sri Lanka beat India in the final comfortably to equal India with 4 Asia Cup trophies. Sanath Jayasuriya smashed a quick 125 off 114 balls to rescue Sri Lanka from 66/4 earlier on when the top order collapsed. Sri Lanka's new mystery spinner, Ajantha Mendis, grabbed figures of 6/13 that left India in tatters.

Champions

Details	Host Nation(s)	Final Venue	Final
			Winner	Result	Runner-up
1984	United Arab Emirates	Sharjah CA Stadium, Sharja		Round Robin
1986	Sri Lanka	Sinhalese Sports Club Ground Colombo	195/5 (42.2 overs)	Sri Lanka won by 5 wickets	191/9 (45 overs)
1988	Bangladesh	Bangabandhu National Stadium Dhaka	180/4 (37.1 overs)	India won by 6 wickets (scorecard)	176 all out (43.5 overs)
1990-91	India	Eden Gardens Calcutta	205/3 (42.1 overs)	India won by 7 wickets (scorecard)	204/9 (45 overs)
1993	Pakistan		Not held
1995	United Arab Emirates	Sharjah CA Stadium, Sharja	233/2 (41.5 overs)	India won by 8 wickets (scorecard)	230/7 (50 overs)
1997	Sri Lanka	R Premadasa Stadium Colombo	240/2 (36.5 overs)	Sri Lanka won by 8 wickets (scorecard)	239/7 (50 overs)
2000	Bangladesh	Bangabandhu National Stadium Dhaka	277/4 (50 overs)	Pakistan won by 39 runs (scorecard)	238 (45.2 overs)
2004	Sri Lanka	R Premadasa Stadium Colombo	228/9 (50 overs)	Sri Lanka won by 25 runs (scorecard)	203/9 (50 overs)
2008	Pakistan	National Stadium Karachi	273 (49.5 overs)	Sri Lanka won by 100 runs (scorecard)	173 (39.3 overs)

Teams

Team	Titles	Record (W-L)	1984	1986	1988	1990-91	1995	1997	2000	2004	2008
	0	2-24		3rd	4th	3rd	4th	4th	4th	4th	4th
	0	0-4								6th	6th
	4	19-12	1st		1st	1st	1st	2nd	3rd	2nd	2nd
	1	17-10	3rd	2nd	3rd		3rd	3rd	1st	3rd	3rd
	4	26-10	2nd	1st	2nd	2nd	2nd	1st	2nd	1st	1st
	0	0-4								5th	5th

See also

• Asian Test Championship
• Women's Asia Cup

References

External links

• Asia Cup History, Schedule & News