Asia Cup, 1986

Cup 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 four times, the most amongst the competing asian countries.

The ACC have announced that the tournament will be held biennially from 2008 onwards.

First edition: 1984

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. Mohsin Khan faced the first ball of the tournament. The final was played between India and Pakistan and the cup was lifted by India.

Second edition: 1986

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.