The much-awaited Asia Cup in the ODI format is commencing on August 30. The tournament is being looked at as a perfect preparation for the teams like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka ahead of the World Cup. Moreover, the ODI Asia Cup is happening for the first time since 2018 as the previous edition was played in the T20 format keeping the World Cup in the shortest format in mind.
India had won the previous edition of the ODI Asia Cup beating Bangladesh in a thrilling final. Moreover, Virat Kohli will be featuring in the 50-over Asian tournament for the first time since 2014 as he had opted to rest in 2018. Ahead of the upcoming edition of the Asia Cup, we list out five interesting facts of the tournament that will leave you stunned:
1. Only 1 Indian bowler has picked up a five-wicket haul in the ODI Asia Cup and he is Arshad Ayub. Interestingly, he was also the first ever bowler to pick five wickets in an innings in the 50-over format of the competition back in 1988. Since then, no Indian bowler has picked up a fifer in Asia Cup. Bhuvneshwar Kumar accounted for a five-wicket haul against Afghanistan last year in a T20 Asia Cup.
2. Pakistan holds the embarrassing record of conceding most extras in the history of Asia Cup. The Men in Green had conceded a massive 38 extras against India in 2000 and 2004 and on both occasions, but they ended up winning the match by 44 and 59 runs respectively.
3. Asia Cup was first played in 1984 and it took 34 years for the tournament to witness its first tied match. India and Afghanistan played out a thrilling tie in the 2018 edition of the tournament. No match has ever ended in a tie in the T20 Asia Cup too.
4. The last non-Sri Lankan bowler to pick up a five-wicket haul in the Asia Cup was Sohail Tanvir back in 2008. Since then, a total of seven five-wicket hauls have been registered in ODI Asia Cup and all of them have been from Sri Lankan players.
5. Rohit Sharma scored his last century in Asia Cup in 2018 edition against Pakistan. It was the 50th century in the Asia Cup history while Liton Das is the last centurion of ODI Asia Cup.
