How Many Times Pakistan have Won the Cricket Asia cup - Pakistan's Journey

The Asian giants Pakistan are having a settled unit in the 50-overs format and will be hungry for a title as they step into in the 2023 Asia Cup to be played in their home conditions from August 30. Though Pakistan has traditionally been a powerhouse of talent and won the fifty-over World Cup in 1992, its performance in the Asia Cup has fallen short of expectations. In the 16 editions of Asia Cups so far Pakistan has won it just twice. Let's have a look at how many Asia Cups have Pakistan won through all these years.

1984 Asia Cup (known as the Rothmans Asia Cup), Sharjah, UAE | Captain: Zaheer Abbas

Playing against India and Sri Lanka in a round-robin format, the Zaheer Abbas-led Pakistan team went down in both games losing to Sri Lanka by 5 wickets and then India by 54 runs. The skipper ended as their highest scorer with 74 runs.

1986 Asia Cup (known as the John Player Gold Leaf Trophy, Sri Lanka | Captain: Imran Khan

The team bettered their record by winning both the round robin games defeating hosts Sri Lanka by 81 runs and newbies Bangladesh by 7 wickets to reach the first-ever Asia Cup finals where they were thrashed by the hosts by 5 wickets. Javed Miandad and Abdul Qadir led the side with Abdul Qadir ending the event with 9 wickets, Javed Miandad was the team’s top scorer with 91 runs.

1988 Asia Cup, Bangladesh | Captain: Javed Miandad

Two years later, Miandad was appointed as the captain of Pakistan but 2 losses in 3 matches meant Pakistan would go back home without tasting success again. Playing their games in Dhaka, Pakistan went down to Sri Lanka by 5 wickets and then produced a massive 173-run win against Bangladesh. In the 3rd league match, Pakistan lost to India by 4 wickets and could not make it to the finals. Ijaz Ahmed scored the most runs in the tournament (192), and Abdul Qadir starred with 6 wickets.

1995 Asia Cup, UAE | Captain: Moin Khan

Wicketkeeper Moin Khan was appointed the skipper as Sharjah hosted the 1995 Asia Cup. Pakistan started the campaign with a 97-run victory against arch-rivals India, defeated Bangladesh by 6 wickets but lost to Sri Lanka by 5 wickets. With 4 teams tied at 4 points, Pakistan having the worst run rate failed to get to the finals yet again. A young Inzamam-ul-Haq scored 190 runs with Aaqib Javed picked 5 wickets.

1997 Asia Cup, Sri Lanka | Captain: Ramiz Raja

Change in captaincy as Ramiz Raja led the team in Sri Lanka. The hosts defeated Pakistan in the first game by 15 runs but the men in green fired back thumping Bangladesh by 105 runs. Their match against India was postponed due to rain but ended up getting abandoned on both occasions meaning no success again for the team. Saqlain Mushtaq got 6 wickets in the event; Salim Malik scored 129 runs.

1995 Asia Cup, UAE | Captain: Moin Khan

Wicketkeeper Moin Khan was appointed the skipper as Sharjah hosted the 1995 Asia Cup. Pakistan started the campaign with a 97-run victory against arch-rivals India, defeated Bangladesh by 6 wickets but lost to Sri Lanka by 5 wickets. With 4 teams tied at 4 points, Pakistan having the worst run rate failed to get to the finals yet again. A young Inzamam-ul-Haq scored 190 runs with Aaqib Javed picked 5 wickets.

1997 Asia Cup, Sri Lanka | Captain: Ramiz Raja

Change in captaincy as Ramiz Raja led the team in Sri Lanka. The hosts defeated Pakistan in the first game by 15 runs but the men in green fired back thumping Bangladesh by 105 runs. Their match against India was postponed due to rain but ended up getting abandoned on both occasions meaning no success again for the team. Saqlain Mushtaq got 6 wickets in the event; Salim Malik scored 129 runs.

2000 Asia Cup, Bangladesh | Captain: Moin Khan

Moin Khan took charge again and brought Pakistan their first-ever Asia Cup title in 2000 Asia Cup. Pakistan got a rollicking start to the campaign by defeating hosts Bangladesh by 233 runs. They defeated India by 44 runs and Sri Lanka by 7 wickets in the subsequent two matches, thus winning all three league matches. Pakistan played against Sri Lanka in the final and defended 277 runs to win the cup. Yousuf Youhana hit 295 runs and was adjudged as the player-of-the-tournament. Abdul Razzaq finished with 8 wickets.

2004 Asia Cup, Sri Lanka | Captain: Inzamam-ul-Haq

The round-robin stage was a success for the Inzamam-ul-Haq led contingent as they defeated Bangladesh (116 runs) and Hong Kong (173 runs) to finish Group A on top. Pakistan finished the super four with 2 wins and 1 defeat as they went down to host Sri Lanka by 7 wickets, defeated India by 59 runs and Bangladesh by 6 wickets. Pakistan however failed to fetch any bonus points and was left behind in the race despite having a better NRR than India. Shoaib Malik starred with the bat by scoring 316 runs.

2008 Asia Cup, Pakistan | Captain: Shoaib Malik

Hosting the Asia Cup for the first time, Shoaib Malik was appointed as the captain of Pakistan. In the group stage, Pakistan defeated Hong Kong by 155 runs and lost to India by 6 wickets. In the super four, Sri Lanka came on top of Pakistan with a 64-run win. Pakistan bounced back with consecutive wins by defeating India by 8 wickets and Bangladesh by 10 wickets. But by virtue of not carrying any points forward from the group stage, remained behind India and Sri Lanka in the finals race. Sohail Tanvir starred with the ball with 10 wickets to his name.

2010 Asia Cup, Sri Lanka | Captain: Shahid Afridi

Asia Cup was back in Sri Lanka with Shahid Afridi taking over reigns for the Pakistan team who went down to Sri Lanka (16 runs), and India (3 wickets) but won against Bangladesh with a bonus point. Just one win wasn’t enough for them to make it to the finals. The skipper Afridi, however, was the player-of-the-tournament with 205 runs in the series.

2012 Asia Cup, Bangladesh | Captain: Misbah-ul-Haq

Misbah-ul-Haq lead the Pakistan team for the 11th Asia Cup held in Bangladesh. Pakistan finished the group stage with two victories against Bangladesh (21 runs) and Sri Lanka (6 wickets) but were stopped by a young Virat Kohli’s attacking 183 despite putting 329 runs on the board in the third match. A superior net run rate and a bonus point put Pakistan ahead of India as they qualified for the finals alongside Bangladesh. Pakistan scored 236 for 9 in 50 overs but kept their nerves winning the game by a bare margin of 2 runs. Mohammad Hafeez scored 245 runs across 4 matches with Umar Gul taking three wickets for the champion team.

2014 Asia Cup, Bangladesh | Captain: Misbah-ul-Haq

2014: The defending champions were led by Misbah again but not with the same success. The campaign started with a loss against Sri Lanka (12 runs). Pakistan defeated newbies Afghanistan by 72 runs and Shahid Afridi snatched a close 1-wicket win against India. Chasing 327 against Bangladesh to reach the finals, Ahmed Shehzad hit a ton to push Pakistan to victory. In the final where Fawad Alam’s unbeaten century wasn’t enough to get Pakistan over the line as Sri Lanka chased 261 runs at Mirpur. Umar Akmal hit 253 runs in 5 games with Saeed Ajmal finishing as the joint highest wicket taker alongside Lasith Malinga (11 wickets).

 2014 Asia Cup, Bangladesh | Captain: Shahid Afridi

Shahid Afridi captained Pakistan in the first-ever T20 Asia Cup in Bangladesh. Pakistan lost to India by 5 wickets in their inaugural match. Though Pakistan won against UAE (7 wickets) in the second match, they lost to Bangladesh by 5 wickets in the third match. Their win against Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the fourth match was not enough as India and Bangladesh were ahead of Pakistan in the points table. Mohammad Amir was the highest wicket-taker for Pakistan with 7 wickets in 4 matches at an economy of 5.06.

2018 Asia Cup, UAE | Captain: Sarfaraz Ahmed

The ODI format was back with the tournament being played in UAE instead of India. Wicketkeeper Sarfaraz Ahmed was the captain after successfully taking the team to victory at the ICC Champions Trophy the previous year. Pakistan started with an 8-wicket win against Hong Kong and went down against India by the same margin. In the Super Four stage, Pakistan beat Afghanistan by 3 wickets but lost to India by 9 wickets. In a must-win match, Pakistan lost to Bangladesh by 37 runs and thus ended their journey in the Asia Cup. Imam-ul-Haq (225 runs) was the highest run scorer for Pakistan.