Does the Asia Cup Still Match India’s Scale?
With India's recent victory over Pakistan in the Asia Cup, the team now looks way too strong for the tournament. Even with their major players retiring from the game, India still stands above the other teams in the Asia Cup, dominating the tournament over the last decade.
The Indian team has currently reached its finest form in the limited-overs format, with its dominance lately in the ICC tournaments. The team was able to win the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 and Champions Trophy 2025, without losing even a single match across both tournaments.
Their dominance is not just limited to the ICC events, as the team now seems to look at the Asia Cup as a warm-up tournament for them. India finished the 2023 Asia Cup by bowling out Sri Lanka for a total of just 50 runs, and the team started its Asia Cup 2025 campaign by bowling out the UAE for just 57 runs.
Even in the Asia Cup 2025, the Indian team is missing out on various big names such as Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, and many more. Still, the team has started off the tournament with a bang, by first defeating the UAE by 9 wickets, and now defeating their arch-rivals, Pakistan, by 7 wickets. With these two consecutive wins, the team looks nearly unstoppable by any other team in the tournament.
Taking a look at India’s dominance, it now seems like winning the Asia Cup is similar to winning a bilateral series for the team. With the team holding the top spot in the ICC rankings and having won two consecutive ICC trophies, their carnage is much more for the teams taking part in the Asia Cup. Let’s take a look at the reasons why India is now too big for the Asia Cup.
Unstoppable India in Asia Cup
India’s dominance in the Asia Cup has not just been over the past decade; the team has been strong in this tournament since its inaugural edition. They are undoubtedly the most dominant team in the history of the tournament, having won 8 titles, with Sri Lanka following them with 6 titles in hand.
| Season | Format | Champion |
|---|---|---|
| 1984 | ODI | India |
| 1986 | ODI | Sri Lanka |
| 1988 | ODI | India (2) |
| 1990–91 | ODI | India (3) |
| 1995 | ODI | India (4) |
| 1997 | ODI | Sri Lanka (2) |
| 2000 | ODI | Pakistan |
| 2004 | ODI | Sri Lanka (3) |
| 2008 | ODI | Sri Lanka (4) |
| 2010 | ODI | India (5) |
| 2012 | ODI | Pakistan (2) |
| 2014 | ODI | Sri Lanka (5) |
| 2016 | T20I | India (6) |
| 2018 | ODI | India (7) |
| 2022 | T20I | Sri Lanka (6) |
| 2023 | ODI | India (8) |
Taking a look at India’s performances in the current season, it may not even be possible for any other team to come close to a win against them. If India is able to continue its dominant form as it prepares for the Super Fours stage, the team might also be able to lift its 9th Asia Cup title with ease.
The team won its first Asia Cup title during the 1984 edition, which was also the first edition of the tournament. Involving just three teams, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, the tournament had three matches where all teams played against each other once. India, having won both of their matches, was able to lift their inaugural title.
Their second title win came in the 1988 edition, and by this time, the Asia Cup became a four-team tournament, also involving Bangladesh. India reached the finals of the tournament and defeated the defending champions, Sri Lanka, by 6 wickets, clinching their second title.
Following this, India started its dominant form in the Asia Cup, as the team went on to win the 1990/91 edition, once again by defeating Sri Lanka in the finals by 7 wickets. Later in the 1995 edition, India secured its third consecutive Asia Cup win, defeating Sri Lanka yet again in the finals by 8 wickets, clinching their fourth title.
After India had won their last title in 1995, the team went for more than a decade without winning the Asia Cup. Finally, during the Asia Cup 2010 edition, under the captaincy of MS Dhoni, India secured its fifth title win, once again by defeating Sri Lanka in the finals by a huge margin.
If we take a look at the last four Asia Cup editions, which have been played, India has been strong, winning three of them. When the tournament was brought for the first time in the T20I format, India ended up winning the same by defeating Bangladesh in the finals by 8 wickets, and this also helped the team to win its 6th title.
During the Asia Cup 2018 edition, the tournament was being played in the ODI format, and seemed to be a good way for the Indian team to prepare for the ICC World Cup 2019. The Indian skipper, Virat Kohli, missed the Asia Cup 2018 edition, making the fans think that the team might not be able to win this time. Defying the odds, the Indian team went on to win by defeating Bangladesh in the finals once again.
India’s recent Asia Cup win came in the 2023 edition, which was hosted by Sri Lanka, ahead of the ICC World Cup 2023. In the finals, India dominated the home team by bowling them all out for just 50, and chasing the total with 10 wickets remaining. This made India the most dominant team in the Asia Cup, winning their 8th title.
Bench Strength Like No Other
Over the past few years, India has been able to bring out the best players, who have made their names not only in the country but all around the world. If we take a look at the Indian team over the last decade in the Asia Cup, it has been with the star captains, such as MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma.
India’s batting line-up has also been unbeatable by any team in the last few Asia Cup tournaments, as it has had stars like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, and many more. Not only does the team hold a strong line-up for the batting side, but it also has in-form bowlers such as Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Ashish Nehra, and many more.
On the other hand, India did face competition from the other teams, particularly Sri Lanka and Pakistan, in the Asia Cup, as their bench strength was close enough to match the Indian team. Sri Lanka had stars such as Tillakaratne Dilshan, Lasith Malinga, etc., and Pakistan also had players such as Wahab Riaz, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Akhtar, and many more.
But the Indian team does not face much competition against the other teams in the Asia Cup when it comes to bench strength. It should be noted that two of India’s star batsmen, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, have retired from the T20I format. The team still has strong players in its batting line-up, such as Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, and many more.
Thus, the strength of the Indian team has not reduced in any way even after the retirements of some star players. With the bowl also, India holds an edge over the other teams, having players such as Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, and many more. In the first two matches played by the team in the current edition, the bowling line-up was easily able to decimate the opposition’s batting line-up.
Competing against India, the other teams in the Asia Cup do not have even half of the bench strength of India. Surely some teams do have strong players, like Pakistan having the likes of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf; Afghanistan having Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi; Sri Lanka having Matheesha Pathirana, Kamindu Mendis, Wanindu Hasaranga, and more, but none of these teams has been able to compete against India.
This factor also plays a crucial role, as the Indian players have shaped themselves to the limited-overs format of the game. For this, the Indian Premier League and the domestic tournaments have surely played an important role, which made India’s transition phase in the T20I format limited to just a few months with almost no struggles.
Giving Associates the Big Stage
The Asia Cup started off with just three teams involving India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Later, the tournament also brought down Bangladesh and Afghanistan to the same but they have never been strong enough against India. This means that although the competition was enhanced, the form of the Indian team was still unmatched.
In the 2016 edition, the ACC (Asian Cricket Council) started bringing the ICC Associate Nations to the tournament with the help of qualifying matches. This is a great initiative by the board to provide a bigger stage to the associate teams, but in return, it has also made the competition easier for India, as the team can receive two easy points every season.
During the Asia Cup 2016, the United Arab Emirates played in the tournament, as they were able to qualify for the Asia Cup via the ACC Qualifiers. But in their match against India, the team was able to score just 81 runs with the loss of 9 wickets, as India went down to chase the total with 9 wickets and 59 balls remaining.
Later in the Asia Cup 2018 edition, Hong Kong was able to reach the tournament with the help of the ACC Qualifiers. They also fell against the Indian team, but gave a fight. India ended up scoring 285/7, setting up a massive target for the associate team, to which they fell short by just 26 runs, allowing India to win the game.
Asia Cup had its second T20I edition tournament in 2022, and this time again, Hong Kong was able to make its way to the tournament. Yet again, they were dominated by the Indian team, as the team won by 40 runs, leading to another easy win for them over the associate teams in the Asia Cup.
In the Asia Cup 2023 edition, Nepal made it to the tournament with the help of the ACC Qualifiers for the very first time. The team tried its best to come strong against India, but ended up losing by 10 wickets, with India being able to chase down the target set by them in the T20 style. Now, in the Asia Cup 2025, India has already faced the UAE and will be facing Hong Kong next. This means the team will be going against two associate nations in a single tournament.
As the dominance of the Indian team grows in the Asia Cup, it seems that the team should let the young talents use it as a way to represent the nation. Building such star line-ups which give way too much competition to the other teams also ends up with India’s matches ending up one-sided. If India can participate in the tournament with its A team, more players might get a chance to prove their worth.
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