ASIA CUP

:''Not to be confused with the football Asian Cup
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. Indian cricket team has lifted the Asia cup four times, the most amongst the competing asian countries.
The ACC have announced that the tournament will be held biennially from 2008 onwards.[1]

Contents
First edition: 1984
Second edition: 1986
Fourth edition: 1990/91
Fifth edition: 1995
Ninth edition: 2008
Champions
See also
References
Further references and notes

First edition: 1984


Main articles: 1984 Asia Cup

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; India won both its matches, winning the inaugral Cup. Sri Lanka came in second while Pakistan lost both its matches.

Second edition: 1986


Main articles: 1986 Asia Cup

The second edition was held in Sri Lanka, the first multi-national cricket series to be held there. India had pulled out of the tournament due to soured relations with Sri Lanka after a controversial series in Sri Lanka the previous year in which the umpires allegedly made wrong decisions to favour the home side leading to Sri Lanka winning their first ever Test match. 'Sri Lanka' lifted the cup beating Pakistan.

Fourth edition: 1990/91


Main articles: 1990-91 Asia Cup

The fourth edition was held in India. Pakistan had pulled out of the tournament which helped 'India' retain its hold on the Cup defeating Sri Lanka in the final.

Fifth edition: 1995


Main articles: 1995 Asia Cup

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.

Ninth edition: 2008


''See also: 2008 Asia Cup''
The ninth edition of the Asia Cup will be held in Pakistan in April 2008. The format sees two groups of three sides, where each side in each group plays each other once. The top two teams in each group play in knock-out semi-finals, with a one-off final to follow.
Group A consists of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates.
Group B consists of India, Oman and Pakistan.

Champions


YearHostChampionRunner-Up
1984 UAE
1986 Sri Lanka
1988 Bangladesh
1990-91 India
1993 Pakistan''Cancelled''
1995 UAE
1997 Sri Lanka
2000 Bangladesh
2004 Sri Lanka
2008 Pakistan

See also



Asian Test Championship

Women's Asia Cup

References



Schedule for the ninth Asia Cup

Further references and notes


1. Asia Cup to be held biennially, from Cricinfo, retrieved 22 June 2006


This article provided by Wikipedia. To edit the contents of this article, click here for original source.

psst.. try this: add to faves