Cricket
How many times Bangladesh won Cricket Asia Cup? Bangladesh’s Journey in the Asia Cup
Bangladesh is the only test-playing participant not to have won the Asia Cup. In the last five Asia Cups Bangladesh have come close to winning the Asia Cup and finished runners-up three times.
Bangladesh is the fourth team to take part in the Asia Cup after India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Bangladesh replaced India in the 1986 Asia Cup as India refused to tour Sri Lanka. The rise of Bangladesh cricket is one of the greatest stories in world cricket. They have come close to winning the Asia Cup on three occasions but without success. Let's have a look at Bangladesh’s journey in the Asia Cup through the years.
1986 Asia Cup (known as John Player Gold Leaf Trophy), Sri Lanka | Bangladesh: 3rd
Bangladesh played their first-ever ODI in the 1986 Asia Cup. Gazi Ashraf was Bangladesh’s captain in the tournament. The tournament was played in a round-robin format where each team played the other once. Bangladesh lost their matches to Pakistan and Sri Lanka by 7 wickets respectively. Shaheedur Rahman (62 in 2 inns) was the only batter to get more than 50 runs in the tournament for Bangladesh.
1988 Asia Cup (known as the Wills Asia Cup), Bangladesh | Bangladesh: 4th
Bangladesh hosted the 1988 Asia Cup with Gazi Ashraf continuing as the captain. Ironically, Bangladesh did not play a single ODI match between the 1986 and 1988 Asia Cup. India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were the other three participants. The tournament was played in a round-robin format. Bangladesh lost all three games beginning with India (9 wickets), Pakistan (173 runs) and lastly Sri Lanka (9 wickets). Athar Ali Khan scored the most runs (68) for the team in 3 matches.
MOST MATCHES FOR BANGLADESH
IN ASIA CUP ODIS
| Player | SPAN | MATCHES |
|---|---|---|
| Mushfiqur Rahim | 2008-2018 | 21 |
| Mahmudullah | 2008-2018 | 20 |
| Mashrafe Mortaza | 2008-2018 | 19 |
| Abdur Razzak | 2004-2014 | 18 |
| Aminul Islam | 1988-2000 | 14 |
1990-91 Asia Cup, India | Bangladesh: 3rd
Minhajul Abedin took over the captaincy in the triangular tournament held in India as Bangladesh failed to win a single game yet again. India did quick work of them at Chandigarh by 9 wickets then Sri Lanka routed Bangladesh by 71 runs in Kolkata. Athar Ali Khan’s 122 runs were the only shining light for the team. He finished the 4th highest run-getter of the tournament.
1995 Asia Cup, UAE | Bangladesh: 4th
Akram Khan captained Bangladesh in the 1995 Asia Cup. Yet again Bangladesh remained winless in the tournament. India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were the other three participants. The tournament was played in a round-robin format. Bangladesh lost to India (9 wickets), Sri Lanka (107 runs) and lastly by Pakistan (6 wickets) in the tournament. Saiful Islam was the joint 3rd highest wicket-taker with 5 wickets to his name.
1997 Asia Cup, Sri Lanka | Bangladesh: 4th
Akram Khan captained Bangladesh once more as the 6th edition of the Asia Cup was held in Sri Lanka. There were some tidy individual performances here and there but still the team failed to snatch a win as Bangladesh lost to Pakistan (105 runs), Sri Lanka (103 runs) and India (9 wickets). Other teams found Bangladesh as an easy target. Athar Ali Khan with 157 runs was the 5th highest run-getter amongst the four teams.
2000 Asia Cup, Bangladesh | Bangladesh: 4th
Bangladesh were the host of the 2000 Asia Cup. Aminul Islam was appointed the captain of Bangladesh. Four teams played in a round-robin format. Bangladesh played the first match against Sri Lanka with Javed Omar hitting an unbeaten 85 but the total of 175/6 was a cakewalk for the strong Sri Lanka lineup as they snatched a nine-wicket win. In their next game against India, they deposited 249/6 on the board which also proved easy for the Indian lineup. Pakistan then bundled them out for 87 after putting a mammoth 320/3 on board to keep the Tigers winless in the tournament.
MOST RUNS FOR BANGLADESH
IN ASIA CUP ODIS
| PLAYER | RUNS | AVERAGE | BEST |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mushfiqur Rahim | 699 | 36.78 | 144 |
| Tahim Iqbal | 519 | 43.25 | 70 |
| Shakib Al Hasan | 402 | 33.50 | 68 |
| Athar Ali Khan | 368 | 36.80 | 82 |
| Akram Khan | 345 | 28.75 | 64 |
2004 Asia Cup, Sri Lanka | Bangladesh: 4th
Sri Lanka hosted the 2004 Asia Cup as the tournament was held in a gap of 4 years. Apart from four Test playing Asian nations, UAE and Hong Kong also took part in the tournament. Habibul Bashar was the captain of Bangladesh. For the first time, Bangladesh tasted success in the Asia Cup with a win against associates Hong Kong (116 runs). They were beaten by Pakistan (76 runs) in the group stage but thanks to the first win, Bangladesh managed to qualify for the super fours. In the next stage, the usual culprits India (8 wickets), Sri Lanka (10 wickets) and Pakistan (6 wickets) did not allow any moment of glory for the Tigers. Javed Omar (130 runs) with 2 half centuries was the team’s leading run-scorer.
2008 Asia Cup, Pakistan | Bangladesh: 4th
A young Mohammad Ashraful led a new-look Bangladesh team in the 2008 Asia Cup in Pakistan. The captain led with example in their opening fixture against UAE scoring a century to take the team to a 96-run win. Sri Lanka proved too hard to beat as they went down by 131 runs advancing to super fours. The Indian team defeated Bangladesh at Karachi by 7 wickets, Sri Lanka proved invincible yet again with a 158-run victory, and Pakistan then did short work of the Tigers winning by 10 wickets. Left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak was the 5th joint highest wicket-taker with 7 wickets.
2010 Asia Cup, Sri Lanka | Bangladesh: 4th
Sri Lanka hosted the 10th edition of the Asia Cup as the defending champions. A young allrounder Shakib Al Hasan was leading Bangladesh with the old round-robin format returning once more as only four Test playing nations were participating in the event. Bangladesh faced defeats against India (6 wickets), Sri Lanka (126 runs) and Pakistan (139 runs) to pack their bags without any win.
2012 Asia Cup, Bangladesh | Bangladesh: Runners-up
Hosting the tournament again, Bangladesh had their best season in the 11th edition as they reached the finals with some brilliant performances at home. Wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim was the captain as Bangladesh went down to Pakistan in their 1st fixture by 21 runs. Bangladesh bounced back by defeating India and Sri Lanka by 5 wickets in subsequent matches to seal their spot in the final to face Pakistan. The final game was a hard-fought one going down the wire with Pakistan managing a 2-run victory. Tamim Iqbal finished as the 2nd highest run scorer with 253 runs, and Shakib scored 237 in 4 matches finishing at number 4. Razzak, Shakib and Mashrafe Mortaza all picked up 6 wickets.
MOST WICKETS FOR BANGLADESH
IN ASIA CUP ODIS
| PLAYER | WICKETS | AVERAGE | BEST |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abdur Razzak | 22 | 36.18 | 3/17 |
| Shakib Al Hasan | 19 | 32.73 | 4/42 |
| Mashrafe Mortaza | 18 | 48.22 | 2/25 |
| Mustafizur Rahman | 10 | 18.50 | 4/43 |
| Shahadat Hossain | 10 | 48.00 | 5/53 |
2014 Asia Cup, Bangladesh | Bangladesh: 5th
Bangladesh were back hosting the 2014 Asia Cup with Rahim appointed skipper again. Bangladesh however failed to perform as they did in the previous edition and lost all four games including the one against Afghanistan, which was the latest entrant in the Asia Cup. The campaign started with Rahim hitting a century in a losing cause against India (6 wickets) followed by games against Afghanistan (32 runs), Pakistan (3 wickets) and Sri Lanka (3 wickets). Anamul Haque was a shining star scoring 227 runs in 4 games.
2016 Asia Cup, Bangladesh | Bangladesh: Runners-up
Fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza was the captain of the first-ever T20 edition of the Asia Cup played in Bangladesh. Bangladesh started the campaign with a 45-run loss to India. But they bounced back by defeating UAE (51 runs) - their first-ever T20I win. Bangladesh defeated Sri Lanka by 23 runs and Pakistan by 5 wickets in the league stage to be 2nd in the points table to meet India in the final. Bangladesh went down by 8 wickets in a rain-reduced match in the final against India. Sabbir Rahman with 176 runs was adjudged as the player of the tournament scoring the most runs in the tournament. Al-Amin Hossain (11 wickets) picked up the most wickets.
2018 Asia Cup, UAE | Bangladesh: Runners-up
UAE hosted the 50-over tournament with Mortaza captaining the Bangladesh side again. Bangladesh started the campaign with a historic win against Sri Lanka pinning the Lions down by 137 runs and dismissing them for their lowest total against Bangladesh (124) in the group stage. A surprise followed next as Afghanistan beat Bangladesh by 136 runs in Abu Dhabi. In the Super Four opener, India defeated Bangladesh by 7 wickets. In the following two matches, Bangladesh managed a 3-run win against Afghanistan and then defeated Pakistan by 37 runs to secure a place in the final. Playing their 2nd consecutive final, they went down against India by 3 wickets. Mushfiqur Rahim finished as the 2nd highest run-getter with 317, and Mustafizur Rahman got the joint most wickets (10).
2022 Asia Cup, UAE | Bangladesh: Group Stage
The latest edition was back in the shortest format and in UAE. Shakib-Al-Hasan was back as the leader after Mortaza’s retirement, but Bangladesh’s fortunes didn’t favour them as they lost to Afghanistan by 7 wickets and then Sri Lanka by 2 wickets to bow out early in the tournament.
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Dillip has over two decades of experience in creating sports content. As the Sports Editor of SportsBoom, Dillip brings in a wealth of experience and expertise to the role. Dillip has worked with leading sports broadcasters and sports web content portals in Asia. He is an adept storyteller and has a special liking for data stories. He has a keen interest in data analysis and uncovering insights from large datasets. He loves to tell the story with rich and compelling data visualisation.