Asia Cup 2023: A look back at India’s seven championship victories before of the final vs Sri Lanka
India has won the Asia Cup seven times, the most ever by any side in the competition’s history.
Team India will meet Sri Lanka in the final of the current continental showcase event at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday, hoping to win their seventh Asia Cup championship. Rohit Sharma and co. got off to a rough start in their Asia Cup 2023 opener against Pakistan. Due to weather, the match was called off after the first innings, and both sides received one point apiece. However, India had a top-order collapse in the first innings, with Rohit (11), Shubman Gill (10), Virat Kohli (4), and Shreyas Iyer (14) all being bowled cheaply.
Then, in their next encounter, India beat Nepal by 10 wickets to go to the Super 4 level. India recovered form in the Super 4 stage, beginning with a 228-run triumph against Pakistan, with to hundreds from Virat Kohli (122*) and KL Rahul (111*). Following their crushing victory over Pakistan, Rohit and company overcame reigning champions Sri Lanka by 41 runs to book their place in the final. India were defeated by Bangladesh by six runs in their last Super 4 match.
India has won the Asia Cup championship in 1984, 1988, 1991, 1995, 2010, 2016, and 2018. It is also the most points scored by any squad in the tournament’s history.
1. 1984
The first ODI tournament was conducted in the UAE in 1984. There were three teams, and India won the championship in a round-robin style, with Sri Lanka finishing second.
2. 1988
In the 1988 Asia Cup final in Dhaka, India beat Sri Lanka by six wickets. Navjot Sidhu was named Player of the Match after scoring 76 runs off 87 deliveries.
3. 1990-91
In the 1990-91 season, India won their third Asia Cup championship as hosts. In the finals, they met Sri Lanka again and won by seven wickets in Kolkata.
4. 1995
In the final against Sri Lanka, India was given a goal of 231 runs. In Sharjah, they won by eight wickets after reaching 233/2 in 41.5 overs.
5. 2010
Dinesh Karthik batted with ferocity in the 2010 Asia Cup final against India and Sri Lanka. Karthik smashed 66 runs off 84 balls as India reached 268/6 in 50 overs, opening with Gautam Gambhir. Sri Lanka were bowled out for 187 in 44.4 overs while chasing a score of 269, with Ashish Nehra taking four wickets for India.
6. 2016
The Asia Cup was contested in T20I format for the first time in 2016, and India won by eight wickets against hosts Bangladesh in the final.
7. 2018
India’s most recent Asia Cup championship came in 2018, in Dubai. The event was played in one-day international format, with India defeating Bangladesh in the final by three wickets.
Shubman Gill presently tops the Asia Cup run chart with 275 runs in five matches, and is closely followed by Sri Lanka’s Kusal Mendis (253) and Sadeera Samarawickrama (215), who are in second and third place, respectively. The final will determine the Asia Cup 2023 top scorer. Meanwhile, Matheesha Pathirana is the leading wicket-taker with 11 in five games.
