Team India is set to play in two big tournaments in the coming few months. They will feature in the 16th edition of the Asia Cup, which will take place in Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The tournament will start on August 30 with a game between Pakistan and Nepal.
The top six teams will play in two groups of three each. India is in Group A, along with Pakistan and Nepal. The Men in Blue will open their campaign with a match against archrival Pakistan on September 2 in Pallekele. Sri Lanka will enter the tournament as the defending champions.
Though India couldn’t make it to the final of the last season, they are still the best team when it comes to the Asia Cup. Here, we will talk about five incredible records for India in the Asia Cup that are hard to break.
Here are top five records by India in Asia Cup History which are hard to beat
Most Titles
The Asia Cup was first played in 1983, when India won the World Cup. In that same year, India also won the inaugural Asia Cup, beating Sri Lanka in the final. Then India didn’t take part in the second edition and won the next three. In total, India has won the most tournaments. They have played 14 seasons and won seven of them, which is a record in the Asia Cup. India won it in 1982, 1988, 1990, 1995, 2010, 2016 and 2018.
Most 100s in Asia Cup History
Batting is India’s main strength across formats, and it has been over the years. Indian batters have also dominated the Asia Cup. India has scored the joint-most centuries (16) in the Asia Cup. Virat Kohli alone has scored three hundreds. Sachin Tendulkar, Shikhar Dhawan, and Suresh Raina have two centuries each. Then Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Gautam Gambhir, Navjot Singh Sidhu, MS Dhoni, Virender Sehwag and Rohit Sharma have one each.
Highest Total in Asia Cup (T20I)
Team India smashed the highest total of the T20 edition in the Asia Cup. It came in the memorable game when Virat Kohli smashed his long-awaited 71st ton against Afghanistan. Kohli scored 122 not out from 61 balls, and India made a total of 212/2 in 20 overs. It is the highest total in the Asia Cup (T20). In that same game, Bhuvneshwar Kumar also took five wickets for just four runs.
Highest Run-Chase in Asia Cup
Team India registered the highest successful run chase in Asia Cup history, which came in the 2012 edition against archrival Pakistan. That game made Virat Kohli the Chase Master. Batting first, Pakistan posted a huge total of 330 runs on the board. Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed smacked hundreds for Pakistan. But the second inning saw an incredible show from Virat. He registered his career-best score of 183 runs and added some important partnerships with Sachin and Rohit. India won with 13 balls to spare. Virat’s 183 is also the highest individual score in Asia Cup, which is also a record.
Most wins in Asia Cup (T20)
So far, two editions have been played in T20 formats. The first one was played in 2016, when MS Dhoni led India to victory, beating Bangladesh in the final. India remained unbeaten in that edition, winning all five games. Then, in 2022, India won three out of five games, taking their tally to eight wins in the T20 format. This is the most by a team in the Asia Cup so far.
