The history of the Asia Cup seems incomplete without the dominance of Team India. The tournament was first held in 1984, and since then, India have dominated this competition in its own style. In the initial edition of this tournament, the team captained by Sunil Gavaskar defeated Sri Lanka and Pakistan and lifted the trophy. Then no one had thought that India would become the most successful team in this competition in the coming years.
In 1990 and 1995, India once again displayed their dominance under the leadership of Mohammad Azharuddin. Especially in the 1995 edition, Sachin Tendulkar's batting made the match against Sri Lanka one-sided. During this time, the Indian team proved that it is not easy to compete with them on Asian soil.
In the 2000s, India went through some ups and downs under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly, but in 2010, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's team defeated Sri Lanka and won the title and regained the Asia Cup throne. In that tournament, the partnership of Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni strengthened the foundation of the team.
In 2016, the tournament was changed to a T20 format, and India adapted themselves to this new format as well ahead of the T20 World Cup. Virat Kohli's consistency and Ashish Nehra's accurate bowling led to victory in the final against Bangladesh. India's dominance continued in the T20 format as well.
In 2018, Rohit Sharma took over the captaincy, and even though Virat Kohli did not play in that tournament, India still won the title without any defeat in any of the matches. The special thing was that the balance of experience and youthful enthusiasm was seen in the team. Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma strengthened the team by scoring runs on big occasions against Pakistan and Bangladesh. India ended up on the victorious side yet again in the 2023 edition of the tournament.
Team India have won the Asia Cup title the most number of times, i.e. 8 times. Sri Lanka have won 6 times and Pakistan 2 times. However, the special thing about India is that every generation of the team has made a way to victory in different ways.
Many captains have contributed to this journey, but the important thing is that Team India have always played better under pressure. Be it the defeat of 2008 or the poor performance in 2022, India have made a comeback every time. As soon as the name of the Asia Cup is taken, the shadow of India appears big.
