Asia Cup 2023: The curtain-raiser before the ODI World Cup

The Asia Cup, somewhat like the ICC Champions Trophy, finds itself sandwiched in the increasingly manic international cricket calendar with many asking what it stands for. It was conceived in the first half of the 1980s when one-day cricket took off in Asia after Kapil Dev’s team won the Prudential World Cup by beating West Indies at Lord’s, and gained momentum during that decade as Sharjah became a hotbed for multi-team one-day competitions. The tournament navigated its way through the 90s without much fuss, but in the decade that followed the value dipped.

The 2012 and 2014 editions threw up a few thrillers, and in 2016 when the Asia Cup was played in the T20I format before that year’s T20 World Cup there was a chance for Bangladesh to finally win it, but MS Dhoni’s team proved too good in the final. Since 2008, the tournament has consistently been held every two years with the exception of the pandemic phase, which meant that from 2018 to 2022 it was not contested. India, led by stand-in captain Rohit Sharma, won the 2018 version when it was played as an ODI tournament, and then in 2022 the T20 version was lifted by Sri Lanka.

Due to the impasse between the BCCI and the PCB, this year’s Asia Cup will be played in Pakistan and Sri Lanka on account of the challenges of the Indian cricket team traveling to Pakistan. This cross-border impasse led to the schedule being delayed and the PCB’s hybrid model finally being approved, and now, at last, the Asia Cup gets underway.

Since diplomatic relations between India and Pakistan broke down in 2011, the cricketing teams of the two countries have met almost entirely at ICC events and the Asia Cup. Since 2013, in fact, they have only met at these tournaments. Which, from a broadcaster’s perspective, has meant that India vs Pakistan becomes the biggest match of the tournament. Thus, when it comes to the Asia Cup, India and Pakistan are put in the same group and teams like Sri Lanka have often had to fight it out in a tougher group. The 2022 Asia Cup is proof of this, for it gave fans the chance to watch India versus Pakistan twice, with hopes of a third match had both teams made the final. That is how the tournament is drawn up – with the hope that India and Pakistan make the final for a hat-trick of such widely and wildly followed clashes.

That Rohit’s team failed to make the final in 2022 was to underline how broken India’s T20Is setup is. They may be ranked No 1 in T20Is, but fans of the Indian team would probably swap that tag for a trophy, seeing how it has been a decade since India won an ICC event. Similarly, Pakistan are ranked No 1 in ODIs after sweeping Afghanistan 3-0 in Sri Lanka last week but last got their hands on an ICC trophy in 2017 and the Asia Cup back in 2012. Winning this edition would do plenty for the fans of both teams, with the specter of the ODI World Cup looming.

Pakistan have won eight of ten ODIs this year, most recently three in a row over Afghanistan. Babar Azam’s team may remain decidedly to-heavy in terms of batting, with the skipper, openers Imam-ul-Haq and Fakhar Zaman and No 4 Mohammad Rizwan scoring most of the team’s runs this year, but with a bowling ensemble featuring Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah and Shadab Khan this is a team that appear favourites to lift the Asia Cup.

India are ranked third by the ICC in ODIs and this year have lost just one of four bilateral series, on the back of some strong batting from the likes of Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli and skipper Rohit Sharma and consistent wickets from Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Siraj. With Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna back, India are arguably the strongest and most well-rounded team at the tournament, particularly now that Sri Lanka have been hit by a slew of injuries.

Having to enter the ICC World Cup Qualifiers would have stung eighth-ranked Sri Lanka, but in lifting that trophy the hosts will hope to use home conditions to add another ODI trophy after two years in a row without losing a home series. The challenge is how to do that without Dushmantha Chameera and Dilshan Madushanka and the prospect of possibly not having the services of Wandindu Hasaranga and Lahiru Kumara.

Bangladesh, one place ahead of Sri Lanka at seventh on the ICC ODI table, are a team in some transition yet have enough talent. Beaten at home in an ODI series by Afghanistan not long ago, Bangladesh will have a point to prove under Shakib Al Hasan who is once again the captain after Tamim Iqbal stood down. Bangladesh know what it takes to win in Sri Lanka, and

Afghanistan are no longer underdogs in the ODI format, and boasting of players such as Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Rahmat Shah, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Rahmanullah Gurbaaz and Fazalhaq Farooqi they can, with helpful conditions, put it past higher-ranked teams. As they showed during their tour of Bangladesh this year, and then briefly against Pakistan last week, Afghanistan can punch hard. The issue is consistency.

Playing the Asia Cup for the first time are Nepal, ranked 15^th and with the experience of 57 one-day matches since attaining ODI status in 2018. This is a team that packs a punch with their allrounders and spinners, but the concern is how they fare in their biggest challenge to date. The only Test nations that Nepal have come up against are West Indies, Ireland and Zimbabwe – all during this year’s World Cup Qualifiers – and each time they were beaten.

Questions arise with an eye on the tournament, which starts in Multan and ends in Colombo. Is Pakistan’s batting too brittle? Does the fact that Afghanistan beat Bangladesh in Bangladesh and pushed Pakistan to the limit in a recent ODI indicate they could upend some of the higher ranked teams? What do India do with their returning players? Is India’s biggest challenge Pakistan?

The Asia Cup may not be the biggest tournament going around, but it has often thrown up some eventful matches. Let’s see what this year’s version brings, given the significance ahead of the World Cup.