The Asian Cricket Council was set up in 1983 to promote better cricketing relations between the Asian nations. The first time, the Asia Cup was held in the United Arab Emirates in 1984. This was because the council’s offices were based in the UAE. The 2022 edition of the tournament was supposed to be held in Sri Lanka. However, due to the economic crisis in the country, it has been shifted to the UAE. India is the most successful team in the Asia Cup and they will be the firm favorites to win the upcoming edition, as well. On that note, here, we take a look at three instances India won the Asia Cup when it was held in UAE.
1) Asia Cup 1984
When it comes to Sharjah, it owns the record of hosting the most number of ODI matches. The first game that the stadium hosted was back in 1984. It was also the first ever Asia Cup fixture, between Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
The tournament was held in a round-robin format. Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India were involved in the competition. India won all its games and hence, won the tournament. Sunil Gavaskar was the captain of this Indian Team.
2) Asia Cup 1995
The fifth edition of the Asia Cup was held in the UAE. This was the second time that the competition was being held in the Arab nations. Apart from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, Bangladesh was also a part of this competition.
Just like the first edition, Asia Cup 1995 was also held in the round-robin format. However, unlike the inaugural season, this time around, a final game was scheduled between the top two teams after the group stage. India and Sri Lanka clashed in the summit clash. Skipper Mohammed Azharuddin scored a brilliant unbeaten 90 to help India win in the final. Hence, India won the Asia cup in 1995.
3) Asia Cup 2018
This tournament was initially slated to be held in India. However, due to the tensions between India and Pakistan, UAE came in as the host. Along with India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Hong Kong (after qualification) were also a part of the tournament.
The teams were divided into two groups and then the tournament followed the format of the semi-finals and finals. India and Bangladesh qualified for the finals. Rohit Sharma was the skipper for India and he had an important contribution in the finals as the team won the game by three wickets.
