5 most thrilling encounters in Asia Cup history
In less than 2 weeks, the 14th edition of the prestigious Asia Cup will kick-off. The first edition of this tournament was played in 1984 in Sharjah, UAE and for the last 29 years, the Asia Cup has always been a special tournament for the sub-continent fans.
It all started with only 3 nations- India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, competing in a round-robin tournament and 29 years later, the number of nations competing for the trophy has doubled to 6.
A total of 6 nations- Hong Kong, Malaysia, Nepal, Oman, UAE, and Singapore are currently competing in the Aisa Cup qualifiers tournament where the winning side will earn a great opportunity to compete with the other 5 Asia Cup contenders- India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.
The Asia Cup 2018 is scheduled to be played at the UAE soil from September 15th to 28th. Unlike the last Asia Cup, this time the competing format will be ODI cricket.
A prestigious tournament where teams give their best to win the trophy for their respective nations; is sure to feature some of the most thrilling encounters. Asia Cup is no different and in this piece, we'll take a look at 5 most thrilling matches ever played in the tournament.
#1 When Shahid Afridi took the game away from India
The 6th match of the 2014 Asia Cup saw the arch-rivals India and Pakistan collide where the latter won a thriller owing to Shahid Afridi's 34 runs off 18 deliveries at the end.
On a slow wicket, India batted first and were 155/5 in 36.1 overs. Rohit Sharma, the opener, contributed good 56 runs but lacked support from fellow batsmen to stitch a partnership. Ambati Rayudu and Ravindra Jadeja's crucial knocks of 58 and 52* took India to 245/8 in 50 overs.
In reply, Pakistan were 113/4 in 22.2 overs. Mohammad Hafeez played a slow but terrific knock of 75 runs off 117 balls. At 203/6 with 5.2 overs remaining, Afridi walked in. Wickets kept falling off the other end as Pak were 236/8 in 49 overs but Afridi continued to strike hard.
The tailender Seed Ajmal was dismissed by Ashwin on the first ball of the 50th over but Afridi hit 2 sixes to finish the game.