There were 14 editions of the Asia Cup, and India has won the trophy seven times. After beating Bangladesh in the finals in the most recent edition in 2018, India ended up winning the championship.
Since its debut in 1983, the Indian cricket team has dominated the Asia Cup winner’s list.
The Asia Cup was first contested in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, in 1984, and was hosted by the Asian Cricket Council. India won the inaugural Asia Cup by defeating Sri Lanka in the final.
MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma have all played pivotal roles as captains and batsmen. Let’s take a look at the vital contributions that these players performed in India’s Asia Cup championships.
MS Dhoni
Under the guidance of MS Dhoni, India defeated Sri Lanka in their home field to win the Asia Cup on June 24, 2010. The fact that we’ve got the championship title since 1995 added to the significance of the occasion. The game was a one-sided battle. MS Dhoni’s men held the Lankans to 187 runs after scoring 268/6. The 81-run victory was the deciding factor between the two teams.
During his illustrious tenure as India’s captain, which lasted from late 2007 to 2016, MS Dhoni won a slew of titles in a variety of formats. While Dhoni was instrumental in India winning the ICC ODI World Cup, T20 World Cup, Champions Trophy, and 50-over Asia Cup in 2013, as well as guiding them to their first-ever No. 1 Test ranking, the 39-year-old furthermore led the team to the Asia Cup T20 title in 2016, which served as a warm-up for the T20 World Cup fairly soon after.
India breezed past Bangladesh, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, and Sri Lanka owing to a polished all-around performance, and advanced to the final, when they faced Bangladesh in Dhaka.
Dhoni made a surprising reappearance as Team India skipper for a match against Afghanistan during the 2018 Asia Cup. While Virat Kohli, the captain of the team, was rested for the tournament, vice-captain Rohit Sharma did not take part in the final against Afghanistan. As a result, many fans were ecstatic to witness MS Dhoni, the most well known skipper in the world, took the toss.
Rohit Sharma
In the unavailability of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma captained India to their 7th Asia Cup triumph over Bangladesh in the final. Rohit has been an outstanding captain, leading Team India to the final and winning all of the matches in the championship.
Even though India were considered contenders to win the tournament, Kohli’s unavailability and Rohit’s captaincy raised concerns. Rohit Sharma hasn’t ever led India in a major tournament before. But, after surviving an early fright against Hong Kong, India forged a relentless path to the final, defeating Bangladesh in a nail-biting last-ball battle. In fact, India was the only team in the competition that had not lost a single game. India’s sole setback was versus Afghanistan in the insignificant Super Four match, which finished in a rollercoaster draw.
Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli has the ability to win games in his own. Over the last years, he has shown to be India’s top batsman across all formats. But that is in One-Day Internationals (ODI) how he has excelled beyond all others from across the world. Statistics don’t always tell the whole story, and yet they never deceive. Kohli has been unstoppable in every situation and against every opponent.
In 12 One-Day Internationals against Pakistan, the former Indian skipper has scored 459 runs at an average of 45.90. It includes two hundreds, including one that came in the Asia Cup in 2012 and was his highest ODI score of 183.
India beat Afghanistan to complete their Asia Cup 2014 campaign on a high note, however they were unable to qualify for the finals. Only two of India’s four matches were won, with the other two being lost to strong teams Sri Lanka and Pakistan. But captain Virat Kohli, on the other hand, was India’s solitary centurion in the year’s championship, having made 189 runs in just three innings at a strike rate of 63.00.
