Asia Cup Cricket Winners List: The Asian Champions down through the ages

The 16th edition of the Cricket Asia Cup is set to begin on August 30 and will end on September 17. Pakistan Cricket Board will co-host the tournament with Sri Lanka Cricket as six teams are set to play 13 games in the only regular multi-team international tournament besides the ICC events. Defending champions Sri Lanka will look to continue their good run of form at home with the other strong contenders Pakistan and India will be aiming to get another trophy in the cabinet before the important World cup scheduled later in the year. Let’s take a look at all the Asia Cup champions we have had until now.

1984: Champions - India

The inaugural edition of the Asia Cup was held in Sharjah as a triangular series involving India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Each team played the other once with the winner to be declared based on points. 2 points were awarded for each win. India won both their games defeating Sri Lanka by 10 wickets and then Pakistan by 54 runs to win the cup under the captaincy of Sunil Gavaskar. Opening batter Surinder Khanna (107 runs) scored fifties in both matches and was the player of the tournament. Ravi Shastri picked up the most wickets in the tournament (4).

Player of the Tournament: Surinder Khanna

1986: Champions - Sri Lanka

India did not take part in the 1986 Asia Cup as they didn’t travel to the island nation due to strained political relations. Bangladesh replaced India. This was the first instance of a final match being played in the Asia Cup after each team played each other once. The top 2 teams then advanced to the finals. Pakistan won both their games easily with the hosts winning against newbies Bangladesh to reach the finals. A brilliant spell from Kaushik Amalean helped restrict Pak to 191/9 in 45 overs. Player of the tournament Arjuna Ranatunga scored 57 in 55 balls adding 97 runs with Aravinda de Silva (52) to take the hosts to their first Asia Cup title with Duleep Mendis leading the team with example.

Player of the Tournament: Arjuna Ranatunga

1988: Champions - India

Bangladesh were the host for the third edition with 4 teams participating for the coveted title. Sri Lanka won all three games continuing their good run. India defeated Bangladesh (9 wickets) and Pakistan (4 wickets) but lost out to Sri Lanka in the group stage by 17 runs. In the finals, the defending champions were bundled out for 176 with Kris Srikkanth taking 3 wickets. India chased the total down with 47 balls remaining on the back of half centuries from Navjot Sidhu (76) and skipper Dilip Vengsarkar (50*), winning the final by 6 wickets and the tournament for the 2nd time.

Player of the Series: Navjot Sidhu

1990-91: Champions - India

India hosted the Asia Cup in the winter of 1990-91 for the first time and Pakistan boycotted the event. Sri Lanka defeated both India and Bangladesh to reach the final. India defeated Bangladesh by 9 wickets in the first game before going down to Sri Lanka by 36 runs to reach the finals with one win. Indian legend Kapil Dev picked up a hattrick in his spell of 4/31 to restrict Sri Lanka to 204/9 before half centuries from Sanjay Manjrekar, Sachin Tendulkar and captain Mohd. Azharuddin took India to another title. Dev (9 wickets) was the highest wicket-taker of the event.

Player of the Series: Not awarded

1995: Champions - India

The Asia Cup returned to the UAE with all 4 previous teams taking part. India defeated Bangladesh (9 wickets), lost to Pakistan (97 runs) and defeated Sri Lanka by 8 wickets to reach the finals. Skipper Azharuddin scored an important unbeaten 90 to clinch an 8-wicket win against Sri Lanka. Tendulkar (205 runs) was the player of the match, Anil Kumble picked up 7 wickets in the tournament.

Player of the Series: Navjot Sidhu

1997: Champions - Sri Lanka

The hosts Sri Lanka won all their matches in the group stage defeating Pakistan (15 runs), India (6 wickets) and then Bangladesh (103 runs). A slightly better net run rate than Pakistan pushed India in the finals where they went down against the hosts by 8 wickets. Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atapattu and skipper Arjuna Ranatunga scored fifties to take Sri Lanka home. Captain Ranatunga finished with 272 runs in four innings with 1 hundred and 2 fifties.

Player of the Tournament: Arjuna Ranatunga

2000: Champions - Pakistan

Dhaka’s Bangabandhu Stadium proved lucky for the green army as they blasted their way to their first Asia cup win. After defeating Bangladesh (233 runs), India (44 runs) and Sri Lanka (7 wickets) in the group stage, a settled Pakistani lineup defeated the defending champions Sri Lanka by 39 runs in the grand finale under the leadership of Moin Khan. Yousuf Youhana was the player of the match for his 295 runs. Young Abdul Razzaq picked up 8 wickets finishing as the highest wicket-taker in the tournament.

Player of the Tournament: Yousuf Youhana

2004: Champions - Sri Lanka

Asia Cup expanded its wings with 6 teams including Hong Kong and UAE taking part in the 8th edition held in Sri Lanka. The teams were divided into 2 groups with Sri Lanka defeating UAE (116 runs) and India (12 runs) to reach the Super 4 stage. Defeating Pakistan (7 wickets), Bangladesh (10 wickets) and going down against India (4 runs), the Lions were able to avenge the super 4 loss in the finals clinching the game by 25 runs. Player of the match Sanath Jayasuriya scored 293 runs and picked up 4 wickets.

Player of the Tournament: Sanath Jayasuriya

2008: Champions - Sri Lanka

Pakistan hosted the Asia Cup for the first time. Mahela Jayawardene was the Sri Lanka skipper taking the team to easy wins against Bangladesh (131 runs) and UAE (142 runs) in the group stage. The good run continued in super fours where they won against the hosts (64 runs), Bangladesh (158 runs) and lost to India by 6 wickets. Ajantha Mendis was the star in the final as he picked up 6/13 in 8 overs taking Lanka to a 100-run win and their 4th title. Mendis took 17 wickets and Jayasuriya scored 378 runs.

Player of the Tournament: Ajantha Mendis

2010: Champions - India

The four Test teams were the only participants in the 10th edition with India winning against Bangladesh (6 wickets) and Pakistan (3 wickets) but lost to the hosts Sri Lanka by 7 wickets finding them in the final again. Dinesh Karthik (66) with the bat and Ashish Nehra (4/40) with the ball then took India to their 5th title under MS Dhoni’s leadership.

Player of the Tournament: Shahid Afridi

2012: Champions - Pakistan

The 4 Test playing Asian nations were back in Bangladesh with the Misbah-ul-Haq led Pakistan team winning against Bangladesh (21 runs) and Sri Lanka (6 wickets) in the group stage. Pakisatn’s juggernaut was halted by Virat Kohli’s 183 as India defeated them by 6 wickets. But due to a better net run rate, Bangladesh qualified for the finals for the very 1st time going down by a bare margin of 2 runs. Umar Gul pocketed 9 wickets in the series with Mohd Hafeez scoring 245 runs.

Player of the Tournament: Shakib Al Hasan

2014: Champions - Sri Lanka

Afghanistan joined the other 4 nations for the very first time in Asia Cup. Angelo Mathews was the Sri Lanka captain winning all the four games in the group stage defeating Pakistan (12 runs), India (2 wickets), Afghanistan (129 runs) and lastly Bangladesh (3 wickets). A century from Lahiru Thirimanne in the final helped them chase down 261 against Pakistan registering their 5th Asia Cup title. Lasith Malinga (11) was the joint leading wicket-taker alongside Saeed Ajmal.

Player of the Tournament: Lahiru Thirimanne

2016: Champions - India

The 2016 Asia Cup was the first ever Asia Cup to be played in the T20 format. It was a prelude to the upcoming T20 World Cup. India was led by the experienced MS Dhoni with Kohli as his deputy. UAE replaced Afghanistan from the previous season. Men in blue kickstarted their campaign with a 45-run win against hosts Bangladesh then defeated archrival Pakistan & Sri Lanka (both by 5 wickets) and lastly UAE (9 wickets). Chasing 121 was a cakewalk for India's top order against Bangladesh in the finals. Kohli was the team’s highest run scorer (153) with Hardik Pandya picking 7 wickets.

Player of the Tournament: Sabbir Rahman

2018: Champions - India

UAE were back hosting the tournament with Afghanistan joining now as a full member. Hong Kong won the 2018 Asia cup qualifier and got a place amongst the big guns. Led by Rohit Sharma India won the group stage against Hong Kong (26 runs) and Pakistan (8 wickets). In the super four stage Bangladesh (7 wickets) and Pakistan (9 wickets) were smashed before Afghanistan managed to tie the fixture with MS Dhoni leading the team for the last time. Rohit was back to lead the team in the finals and took the team to victory by 3 wickets against Bangladesh. Shikhar Dhawan scored the most runs (342) with Kuldeep Yadav bagging 10 wickets.

Player of the Tournament: Shikhar Dhawan

2022: Champions – Sri Lanka

It was decided that the tournament will switch its format every edition with the latest one being held in UAE in the 20-over format. Dasun Shanaka was the Sri Lanka leader and somehow managed to take the team to super four after losing to Afghanistan by 8 wickets and then defeating Bangladesh by just 2 wickets. A terrific super four followed with wins against Afghanistan (4 wickets), India (6 wickets) and Pakistan (5 wickets) to set a final against Pakistan at Dubai where the Lankan lions were crowned the Asian champions for the 6th time winning the match by 23 runs. Wanindu Hasaranga picked up 9 wickets in the tournament.

Player of the Tournament: Wanindu Hasaranga

Asia Cup Winners List