Asai Cup.

Essay: Asia Cup

The ACC Asia Cup is an international men's One Day International cricket tournament. It was established in 1983 when the Asian Cricket Council was founded as a measure to promote goodwill between Asian countries. It was originally scheduled to be held every two years. The first tournament was held in 1984 in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates 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.India lifted the Asia cup the most times (five) followed by Sri Lanka (four). India appeared in every Cup apart from the 1986 (India pulled out due to strained cricketing relations with Sri Lanka), 1993 (when it was cancelled due to strained political relations between India and Pakistan). Sri Lanka, however, have appeared in every final since the cup's inception. The ACC have announced that the tournament will be held biennially from 2008 onwards.Pakistan is the current champion after beating Bangladesh in the finals of 2012 Asia cup.

The first edition of the Asia Cup was held in 1984 in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, 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 among India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. India won this tournament with two victories. 

Sri Lanka was the host for the second edition, in 1986; this was the first multi-national cricket series to be held there.  Bangladesh was included for the first time. Sri Lanka won the cup in the final beating Pakistan.

The third edition, 1988, was held in Bangladesh, the first time that a multi-national cricket tournament was held there. In the final, India beat Sri Lanka by 6 wickets and won their 2nd Asia Cup.

The fourth edition was held in India in 1990–91.In 1993 the tournament was cancelled due to strained political relations between India and Pakistan.The fifth edition, in 1995, took the series back to Sharjah(India) after 11 years.The sixth edition was held in Sri Lanka in 1997.Sri Lanka beat India in the final by 8 wickets to win its second Asia Cup and halt India's three consecutive cup victories.

The seventh edition took place in Bangladesh for the second time in 2000. Pakistan and Sri Lanka made it to the final while India only won one match against Bangladesh and did not qualify for the final for the first time. In the final, Pakistan beat Sri Lanka and lifted the Asia Cup for the first time.

The eighth edition took place in Sri Lanka in 2002. There was a change in the tournament format this time. Other Asian teams like UAE and Hong Kong were also included for the first time and the tournament was now divided into three stages. The group stage was divided into two groups of 3 teams, each playing each other once. The top two teams from each group qualifed for the Super Four stage where they played each other again once. The top two teams in the Super Four stage will then qualify for the final. Hosts Sri Lanka, India and UAE were placed in Group A while then defending champion Pakistan, Bangladesh and Hong Kong were placed in Group B.India and Sri Lanka topped the Super Four stage and reached the final. In the final, Sri Lanka defeated India by 25 runs to win the Asia Cup. The ninth edition of the Asia Cup was held in Pakistan. Once again, the 2004 format was retained. Sri Lanka won this tournament by 25 runs agains India. The tenth edition was held in Sri Lanka, which hosted the Asia Cup for the fourth time, In the final, India beat Sri Lanka comfortably to become Asia Cup champions.

And now the currenteleventh edition of Asia Cup was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh from March 11 to 22, 2012. This was confirmed by the Asian Cricket Council on December 15, 2011. Pakistan and Bangladesh qualified to play in the final, where Pakistan beat Bangladesh narrowly by two runs after a thrilling final over. Needing 4 runs of the last ball with a new batsman on strike, Bangladesh managed to score only one, handing Pakistan its first Asia Cup title since the 2000 edition, the second in all. Bangladesh had beaten India and Sri Lanka to book its place in the final for the first time in the history of the tournament. In the final match, Pakistan manages to win the match in a nail biting finish as Bangladesh falls short of target score of 236 by a mere 2 runs. Misbah-ul-Haq is the second Asia cup victorius captain in the history of Pakistan cricket after Moin Khan. This was the second time Pakistan won the Asia Cup. 

Performance of teams

The table below provides an overview of the performances of teams over past Asia Cups.

Team	Appearances			Best result	Statistics
	Total	First	Latest		Played	Won	Lost	Tie	NR
India	10	1984	2012	Champions (1984, 1988, 1990–91, 1995, 2010)	39	24	14	0	1
Sri Lanka	11	1984	2012	Champions (1986, 1997, 2004, 2008)	43	29	14	0	0
Pakistan	10	1984	2012	Champions (2000, 2012)	35	21	13	0	1
Bangladesh	10	1986	2012	Runners-up (2012)	33	4	29	0	0
Hong Kong	2	2004	2008	Round 1 (2004, 2008)	4	0	4	0	0
United Arab Emirates	2	2004	2008	Round 1 (2004, 2008)	4	0	4	0	0