Asia Cup Cricket 2008 History
Asia Cup Cricket History
The Asia Cup is an international cricket tournament. It was conceived in 1983 when the Asian Cricket Council was created as a measure to promote goodwill between Asian countries. It was originally scheduled to be held every two years. The first edition was held in 1984 in Sharjah, UAE where the council's offices were based (until 1995). The International Cricket Council has ruled that all games played for the Asia Cup have official One Day International status. Indian cricket team has lifted the Asia cup the most times (4) and appeared in every final apart from the 1986 cup, which India boycotted due to soured relations with host nations Sri Lanka.
Asia Cup Cricket 1984 in Sharjah
The first edition of the Asia Cup was held in 1984 in Sharjah, UAE, the location of the headquarters of the newly formed Asian Cricket Council. The first match was Pakistan vs the new ICC member Sri Lanka. The tournament was a round-robin tournament; India won both its matches, winning the inaugural Cup. Sri Lanka came in second while Pakistan lost both its matches.
Asia Cup Cricket 1986 in Sri Lanka
The second edition was held in Sri Lanka, the first multi-national cricket series to be held there. India had pulled out of the tournament due to soured relations with Sri Lanka after a controversial series in Sri Lanka the previous year in which the umpires allegedly made wrong decisions to favour the home side leading to Sri Lanka winning their first ever Test match. Sri Lanka lifted the cup beating Pakistan.
Asia Cup Cricket 1990 in India /91
The fourth edition was held in India. Pakistan had pulled out of the tournament which helped India retain its hold on the Cup defeating Sri Lanka in the final.
Asia Cup Cricket 1995 in Sharjah
The fifth edition took the series back to Sharjah after 11 years. India and Sri Lanka made it to the final by virtue of better runrate than Pakistan as all three teams had equal points after preliminary round. For the third successive time in the Asia Cup, India defeated Sri Lanka in the final.
Asia Cup Cricket 2008 in Pakistan
The Ninth Edition of the Asia Cup will be held at Pakistan in june 2008. The top two teams in each group play in knock-out semi-finals, with a one-off final to follow.
Group A consists of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates.
Group B consists of India, Hong Kong and Pakistan.
