On This Day: The Last of Asian Test Championship (10 March)
The first Asian Test Championship was held in 1998-99. Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka by an innings and 175 runs in the final,with Ijaz Ahmad winning the Player of the Match award for his 211 runs. Wasim Akram was the highest wicket-taker in the competition; he took 15 wickets and was also adjudged the Player of the Tournament. On the other hand, Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene was the highest runscorer in the tournament. The other team in the competition were India. Bangladesh were not a Test playing nation back then and hence, were not a part of this tournament. The Bangladesh Cricket Board, however, took a keen interest in the tournament. As a result, the final was played in Dhaka. Fans from both Pakistan and Sri Lanka traveled to Bangladesh to watch the final, and it brought in a huge amount of revenue for BCB.
The first match of the tournament was played between India and Pakistan at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Pakistan were bowled out for 185 runs in the first innings, while India scored 233 runs. Shoaib Akhtar cleaned bowled four Indian batsmen, three of them being VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, and Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin was out for a duck. Saeed Anwar remained not out throughout the second innings for Pakistan and scored 188 runs. Pakistan managed to score 316 runs and set a target of 279 runs for India.
The drama was yet to unfold. It began on the fourth day of the match. Sachin flicked a ball from Akram and took two runs. He completed 5000 runs in Test cricket while doing this. He came back for the third run but Nadeem Khan, one of the substitutes, hit the stumps directly. On a normal day, Sachin would have made the ground. But this was not a normal day as before reaching into the crease he collided with Akhtar. On-field umpires referred the decision to the third umpire. The third umpire gave him out. Post this, the crowd turned violent. They started throwing things at Akhtar and other Pakistani players. Sachin along with some officials came on the ground and asked the spectators to calm down. In the end, India lost the match by 46 runs.
Also see – MI squad
The second edition of the tournament happened in 2001-02. India pulled out of the tournament due to political pressure. The Indian government didn't allow the players to take part in the tournament.
On This Day, Sri Lanka took their revenge on Pakistan. Sri Lanka defeated Pakistan and became the second Asian Test Champion. Kumar Sangakkara scored his first-ever double-century in the first innings of the match. Mohammad Sami took a hat-trick in the first innings and became the third Pakistani to do so after Akram and Abdul Razzaq. All three hat-tricks came against Sri Lanka only. Pakistan set a target of 32 runs in the second innings for Sri Lanka, who chased it in six overs and won by 8 wickets.
Asian Cricket Council canceled the third edition of the tournament in 2006.