Asia Cup (cricket)

Asia Cup (cricket), biennial international cricket tournament in which national teams from Asia compete for a continental championship. The first edition was played in 1984 following the inception of the Asian Cricket Conference, the precursor to the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), in 1983. Since 2016 the Asia Cup has alternated its playing format between One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is). The ACC launched the women’s Asia Cup in 2004. As of 2025, the Indian cricket team has won the most men’s Asia Cup titles (seven ODIs and two T20Is), followed by Sri Lanka (five ODIs and one T20I). The Indian women’s cricket team has also won seven Asia Cup titles (four ODIs and three T20Is). The tournament is also considered the most prominent Asian cricket competition and features member countries of the ACC as well as select associate member countries.

Men’s tournament results and history

The inaugural edition of the Asia Cup took place in 1984 in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, which also served as the ACC’s headquarters at the time. This first Asia Cup was a tri-series (involving three teams) round-robin tournament featuring India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, the only permanent Asian members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) at the time. India, fresh from its triumph in the 1983 Cricket World Cup, defeated Pakistan and Sri Lanka to win the first Asia Cup. Despite early editions facing disruptions on and off the field—such as India-Pakistan tensions and poor umpiring standards in Sri Lanka—the competition became a fixture in the Asian cricket calendar.

India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka have historically dominated the tournament. As of June 2025 Bangladesh has never won an Asia Cup championship, despite having reached the final three times. Tournament results are provided in the table below:

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Women’s Asia Cup

The first Women’s Asia Cup was played between India and Sri Lanka in 2004. India has won seven titles, with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka each lifting the trophy once, as of 2025. The Women’s Asia Cup was held every two years in the ODI format until 2008. The tournament was not held in 2010, possibly because of the inclusion of women’s cricket in the 2010 Asian Games. The tournament was not held in 2014 either, likely to accommodate the 2014 Asian Games. The 2020 Asia Cup was postponed to 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since 2012, the competition has been played in the T20I format. More details can be found in the tables below:

Asia Cup controversies

Since its inception, the Asia Cup has often been seen as a barometer of geopolitical tensions, especially between countries in the Indian subcontinent. Strained political and diplomatic ties between ACC member countries have led to tournaments being canceled or postponed, with countries boycotting the competition on more than one occasion. India-Pakistan tensions in particular have a long history of disrupting the tournament.

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• India did not take part in the 1986 edition because of the civil war in Sri Lanka, the host country, at the time.
• Pakistan pulled out of the 1990–91 Asia Cup, which was also the last time India hosted the competition, because of political friction caused by the Siachen Glacier conflict.
• The 1992–93 riots and March 12, 1993, bombings in Bombay (now Mumbai) further heightened India-Pakistan tensions. The 1993 Asia Cup was canceled after India refused to travel to Pakistan.
• The 2018 Asia Cup was originally scheduled to be held in India, but it was shifted to the United Arab Emirates after diplomatic unease between India and Pakistan following insurgent attacks in Jammu and Kashmir between 2016 and 2018.
• The Indian government refused to let the country’s cricket team travel to Pakistan for the 2023 Asia Cup. The tournament was jointly hosted by Pakistan and Sri Lanka, with India playing its matches in the latter country.
• The 2025 Asia Cup, originally scheduled to be held in India, was relocated after a terror attack near the Indian resort town of Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, in April 2025, followed by cross-border airstrikes and drone attacks by India and Pakistan in May. The tournament was held in the United Arab Emirates from September 9–28, 2025. Despite an angry backlash because of India-Pakistan tensions, the Board of Control for Cricket in India allowed the Indian cricket team to play against Pakistan in the competition. Through the 2025 Asia Cup, Indian players refused to shake hands or directly interact with their Pakistani counterparts. After India won the tournament, the post-match presentation was held up by the Pakistan team’s late arrival for the ceremony. The Indian team also refused to accept the winners’ medals and the trophy from Pakistani politician and ACC chair Mohsin Naqvi.