A brief look at the history of Asia Cup ahead of its 15th edition

With the T20 Asia Cup 2022 kickstarting today, cricket fans look forward to an intense, action-packed two weeks of white-ball cricket.

Before the latest edition starts, let’s rewind and take a look at the history of the Asia Cricket Council (ACC) Asia Cup.

ACC Asia Cup is the only running continental tournament in the history of cricket which dates back to 1984.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), which is hosting the T20 Asia Cup this year, was also the host of the inaugural edition of the Asian event.

In 1984, UAE hosted India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka in the inaugural Asia Cup. The idea of the tournament was to keep Asian teams intact before major multi-nation events.

India continued their dominant form from their maiden World Cup victory in 1983 and won the inaugural edition of the Asia Cup, topping the points table. Only three matches were played in that tournament.

Thereafter, Asia Cup used to take place after every two years. Gradually, the number of participating teams kept on increasing.

In 1986, when the second edition of the Asia Cup took place, India pulled out of the tournament due to poor cricket relations with the hosts Sri Lanka.

Out of the total 14 Asia Cups, 13 took place in the 50-overs format. In 2016, the Asian tournament took place in T20 format to provide the continental teams an opportunity to prepare for T20 World Cup 2016.

This year too, the Asian teams have been given a chance to get ready for T20 World Cup 2022 by playing T20 cricket in the Asia Cup.

T20 World Cup 2022 is scheduled for October-November this year in Australia.

The T20 Asia Cup 2022, meanwhile, will be played from August 27 to September 11 in the UAE.