Asia Cup (2025)

The Asia Cup is the only continental championship in cricket. It is organized by the Asia Cricket Council (ACC) and is contested by the Asian teams. The first edition of the Asia Cup was played in 1984 in Sharjah.

India won the inaugural edition before boycotting the second edition in 1986 due to strained cricketing ties with Sri Lanka. Pakistan also boycotted the 1990-91 edition due to poor political relations with India while the 1993 edition was completely cancelled because of the same reason. Sri Lanka are the only team to have played in each edition of the Asia Cup.

Asia Cup - Teams:

A total of eight teams have played in at least one edition of the Asia Cup. In 2025, the number will increase to nine as Oman will be making their debut in the competition.

In the first edition of the Asia Cup in 1984, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka made their debuts in the tournament. Two years later, Bangladesh made their debut in the Asia Cup. The next teams to make their debut in the Asia Cup were Hong Kong and UAE who played in the continental championship for the first time in 2004.

Ten years later, Afghanistan made their debut in the Asia Cup in 2014 before Nepal made their bow in the competition in 2023.

Here is a list of teams that have played in the Asia Cup so far:

• India
• Pakistan
• Sri Lanka
• Bangladesh
• Hong Kong
• United Arab Emirates
• Afghanistan
• Nepal

Asia Cup - Format

The Asia Cup was started as an ODI tournament. However, in 2016, it was announced that the format of the tournament would depend on the upcoming ICC event. As a result, the continental championship is played on a rotation basis between ODI and T20I format.

The 2016 Asia Cup was the first-ever edition played in the T20I format as it served as a preparatory tournament ahead of the 2016 T20 World Cup. On the other hand, the last edition of the Asia Cup that took place in 2023 was played in the ODI format because of the 2023 ODI World Cup.

Asia Cup - Past winners list:

India are the most successful side in the history of the Asia Cup with eight titles to their names. They have won the ODI edition seven times and the T20I edition once. Sri Lanka are the second-most successful team with six titles while Pakistan have won the tournament twice. Apart from these three teams, no other team has managed to win the tournament so far.

Asia Cup 2025:

Asia Cup 2025 is the upcoming edition of the tournament. It will be the 17th edition of the tournament and will be played in the T20I format. Even though India have the hosting rights for the competition, the competition will be held in UAE because of the geopolitical tension in the region.

The tournament will be held from September 9 to 28. Eight teams will be participating in the upcoming tournament. The eight teams are - India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Hong Kong, UAE and Oman.

The eight teams have been divided into two groups of four teams each. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the Super 4s. In the Super 4s stage, each team will play against the other three teams once. The top two teams will then qualify for the final. Asia Cup 2025 will have a total of 19 matches.