How many times Sri Lanka won Cricket Asia Cup? Sri Lanka’s Journey in the Asia Cup

Sri Lanka is the second most successful team in the history of the Asia Cup. Sri Lanka is also the only team to participate in all the editions of the competition. The Lankan Lions are going to co-host the Asia Cup 2023 alongside Pakistan. After having made to play the World Cup qualifier, the team has made a strong comeback with good performances lately. Let's have a look at how many Asia Cups Sri Lanka have won in all these years.

Duleep Mendis led the team in Sharjah and kick-started the event with a 5-wicket win against Pakistan. In the next match, Sri Lanka lost to India who went on to win the trophy. In the match against India, Sri Lanka was all out for 96 batting first. India chased the target in the 22nd over. In this 3-match tournament, Sri Lanka finished 2nd in the points table and was the runners-up. Roy Dias scored the first and only half-century for Sri Lanka in the tournament. Arjuna Ranatunga starred with the ball taking 3 wickets.

_Sri Lanka - Most Runs: Roy Dias (62) & Most Wickets: Arjuna Ranatunga (3)_

Hosting the event for the first time, Duleep Mendis continued to lead the team. They lost to Pakistan by 81 runs in the first game but beat Bangladesh by 7 wickets to contest Pakistan in the final. In the final Kaushik Amalean picked up 4 wickets; Aravinda de Silva and Arjuna Ranatunga hit half-centuries to take the team to their first title by 5 wickets. Ranatunga was the only batter in the event to score more than 100 runs, Amalean and Ravi Ratnayeke finished with 7 wickets.

_Sri Lanka - Most Runs: Arjuna Ranatunga (105) & Most Wickets: Kaushik Amalean & Ravi Ratnayeke (7)_

Bangladesh hosted the 1988 Asia Cup with Arjuna Ranatunga leading the Sri Lanka team. Sri Lanka was unbeaten in the league stage. They started the tournament with a 5-wicket victory against Pakistan. Defeated India by 17 runs and Bangladesh by 9 wickets in subsequent matches. Sri Lanka met India in the 1988 Asia Cup final. Sent to bat first Sri Lanka set a target of 177 in 50 overs. Navjot Sidhu’s 76 and India captain Dilip Vengsarkar’s unbeaten fifty took India home in the 38th over. Sri Lanka lost the match by 6 wickets.

_Sri Lanka - Most Runs: Athula Samarasekara (140) & Most Wickets: Kapila Wijegunawardene (8)_

Arjuna Ranatunga captained Sri Lanka in the 1990-91 Asia Cup held in India. Pakistan did not take part in the tournament. Sri Lanka won both league matches by beating India by 36 runs and then Bangladesh by 71 runs. Kapil Dev’s hattrick in the final tilted the balance in India’s favour. Sri Lanka scored 204 for 9. The fifties from Sanjay Manjrekar, Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammad Azharuddin helped India to lift their 3rd Asia Cup trophy. Ranatunga finished the tournament as the highest run scorer with 166 in 3 innings.

_Sri Lanka - Most Runs: Arjuna Ranatunga (166) & Most Wickets Rumesh Ratnayake (4)_

Sharjah was the home of the 5th Asia Cup with Arjuna Ranatunga leading the pack yet again. In the league stage, Sri Lanka won two out of three matches to secure a place in the final. Sri Lanka defeated Bangladesh (107 runs) and Pakistan (5 wickets). Their only loss in the group stage was against India (8 wickets). In the final against India, Sri Lanka set a target of 230 which India chased by losing two wickets, courtesy 175 runs 3rd wicket partnership between Navjot Sidhu and captain Mohammad Azharuddin.

_Sri Lanka - Most Runs: Sanath Jayasuriya (134) & Most Wickets Muttiah Muralitharan (5)_

Sri Lanka were the hosts again with skipper Arjuna Ranatunga confident of winning another title. The team ticked all the boxes winning 3 out of 3 matches in the group stage starting with Pakistan (15 runs), India (6 wickets) and lastly Bangladesh (103 runs) to reach the final. India playing the final against Sri Lanka set a target of 240. A blistering fifty from Sanath Jayasuriya at the top and fifties from Marvan Atapattu and captain Ranatunga secured an 8-wicket victory for Sri Lanka. Ranatunga (272), Marvan Atapattu (255) and Jayasuriya (204) ended as the top three run makers, Jayasuriya also snatched 6 wickets in 3 innings. Skipper Ranatunga was the player of the tournament.

_Sri Lanka - Most Runs: Arjuna Ranatunga (272) & Most Wickets Sanath Jayasuriya (6)_

Post Ranatunga’s retirement, allrounder Sanath Jayasuriya captained Sri Lanka in the 2000 Asia Cup in Bangladesh for the 7th Asia cup tournament. The team started with a 9-wicket victory against Bangladesh, followed that by a 71-run win versus India but ended the group stage with a defeat by Pakistan (7 wickets). In the repeat encounter during the finals, Pakistan posted 277/4 which proved far away for the Sri Lanka batting order as they lost by 39 runs. Marvan Atapattu scored 245 runs in 4 innings at an average of 81.66.

_Sri Lanka - Most Runs: Marvan Atapattu (245) & Most Wickets Kaushalya Weeraratne (4)_

Change in captaincy and the Asia Cup venue as Marvan Atapattu led Sri Lanka at home. Winning the group fixtures against UAE (116 runs) and India (12 runs), the Lions progressed to super four where they continued the winning momentum. Sri Lanka defeated Pakistan (7 wickets) and Bangladesh (10 wickets) but lost to India by 4 runs as Zaheer Khan defended 11 runs in the last over. Meeting India in the final Sri Lanka set a target of 229. India could only score 203 in 50 overs and lost by 24 runs handing Sri Lanka their 3rd Asia Cup trophy.

_Sri Lanka - Most Runs: Sanath Jayasuriya (293) & Most Wickets Nuwan Zoysa (10)_

The 9th edition Asia Cup was hosted by Pakistan with Mahela Jayawardene appointed as the captain of Sri Lanka. Easy victories in group stage against Bangladesh (131 runs) and UAE (142 runs) helped them advance to super fours where Kumar Sangakkara’s century was big enough to keep Pakistan at bay winning against the hosts by 64 runs. They followed it with a win against Bangladesh (158 runs) but lost to India by 6 wickets before meeting them again in the final where they snatched a 100-run victory as mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis ran through the Indian batting order with figures of 6/13 finishing the cup with 17 wickets as the player-of-the-tournament. Jayasuriya scored 378 runs, the most in the tournament.

_Sri Lanka - Most Runs: Sanath Jayasuriya (378) & Most Wickets Ajantha Mendis (17)_

The defending champions Sri Lanka were back as the hosts in the 2010 Asia Cup. Kumar Sangakkara took over as the full-time captain leading the team to three wins in the group stage with 2 bonus points as Sri Lanka finished on top with 14 points defeating Pakistan (16 runs), Bangladesh (126 runs) and lastly India (7 wickets). In the final against India, wicketkeeper batter Dinesh Karthik played a match-winning knock of 66 with Ashish Nehra taking 4 wickets to give India the 5th title and another heartbreak to Sri Lanka. Lasith Malinga finished as the leading wicket-taker with 9 scalps.

_Sri Lanka - Most Runs: Kumar Sangakkara (184) & Most Wickets Lasith Malinga (9)_

Bangladesh hosted the 2012 Asia Cup and Mahela Jayawardene was appointed as the Sri Lanka captain. Sri Lanka had a horrid run of form as they failed to win a single match in the series. After going down to India by 50 runs, Pakistan beat them by 6 wickets and then Bangladesh won a rain-hit encounter by 5 wickets to send the Lions packing.

_Sri Lanka - Most Runs: Kumar Sangakkara (142) & Most Wickets Suranga Lakmal (4)_
 

The 12th edition of the Asia Cup was held in Bangladesh again with allrounder Angelo Mathews as the captain of Sri Lanka. After losing all matches in the previous edition, the Lions made a brilliant comeback winning all the matches in the first-round defeating Pakistan by 12 runs, India by 2 wickets and Afghanistan by 129 runs to qualify for the finals. They also defeated Bangladesh by 3 wickets before finding Pakistan in the final. A century from Lahiru Thirimanne awarded them the trophy for the 5th time. Thirimanne was the leading run scorer in the tournament (279 runs) and scored 2 centuries, Malinga finished as the joint leading wicket-taker having 11 scalps to his name.

_Sri Lanka - Most Runs: Lahiru Thirimanne (279) & Most Wickets Lasith Malinga (11)_

The first ever T20 Asia Cup was hosted by Bangladesh. Fast bowler Lasith Malinga was the captain of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka won the opening encounter against UAE by 14 runs but as the tournament progressed, their performance dipped as they failed against Bangladesh (23 runs), India (5 wickets) and Pakistan (6 wickets) to crash out of the tournament. Dinesh Chandimal hit 2 fifties on his way to 149 runs with Nuwan Kulasekara picking 7 wickets in 4 matches.

_Sri Lanka - Most Runs Dinesh Chandimal (149) & Most Wickets Nuwan Kulasekara (7)_
 

UAE was the home for the 14th edition of the Asia Cup back in its ODI form. Angelo Mathews led the pack this time as well. Sri Lanka’s dismal form continued as they crashed out in the group stage itself losing both their matches as Bangladesh put them out by 137 runs with Afghanistan winning the next match by 91 runs.

_Sri Lanka - Most Runs: Upul Tharanga (63) & Most Wickets Thisara Perera (6)_