Asia Cup, 1990-91

Staging the Asia Cup for the first time, India retained the trophy which they won in Bangladesh in 1988-89. It was their third triumph in three appearances in the tournament, though they withdrew from the 1985-86 competition held in Sri Lanka. On this occasion Pakistan were missing, after their request that the tournament should be postponed, because of inter-communal violence in Indian cities, was not accepted. Mr A. A. K. Abbasi, secretary of the Pakistan Board of Control, whose nephew had been killed, said he feared for his players' safety.

Despite the absence of the Pakistanis, India had to overcome significant opposition from Sri Lanka, who had defeated them in the final game of their one-day series in early December, and had just beaten Pakistan in one of two matches in Sharjah. Indeed, Sri Lanka finished on top of the qualifying table, having beaten both India and Bangladesh, but India took their revenge in the final, spurred on by a hat-trick from Kapil Dev two days before his 32nd birthday.

Bangladesh could not hope to compete on equal terms with their Test-playing neighbours, but against Sri Lanka they reached their highest score and were not bowled out in either of their matches. Although their bowlers had little success, Faruq Ahmed reached a record individual score for Bangladesh in the first, only to be passed by Ather Ali Khan in the second game.

Match reports for

1st Match: India v Bangladesh at Chandigarh, Dec 25, 1990
Report | Scorecard

2nd Match: India v Sri Lanka at Cuttack, Dec 28, 1990
Report | Scorecard

3rd Match: Bangladesh v Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens, Dec 31, 1990
Report | Scorecard

Final: India v Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens, Jan 4, 1991
Report | Scorecard