History of Asia Cup - 1988

History of Asia Cup - 1988

India halt Lankan charge

The ninth Asia Cup limited overs cricket tournament will be played in Pakistan from June 24 to July 6.
Defending champions Sri Lanka have been drawn alongside Bangladesh and United Arab Emirates in Group A, while archrivals India and Pakistan will battle it out in Group B with Hong Kong.
India have won the event four times, while Sri Lanka have lifted the cup three times, and Pakistan once.
LAKBIMAnEWS continues to take a look at the history of the tournament which was inaugurated in 1984.
The third edition of the tournament named Wills Asia Cup was played in Bangladesh in 1988. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were the participating countries. Although Sri Lanka cruised into the final with three wins in a row they were brushed aside by India in the final.

Promising start

Sri Lanka went to the tournament as defending champions (they annexed the trophy two years ago when the event was held in their shores) and the team under Ranjan Madugalle was determined to do well. They started on a positive note by beating Pakistan by 5 wickets in their first match played at the Dhaka National Stadium on October 27.
Madugalle won the toss and put Pakistan in. They managed 194 for 7 in their allotted 44 overs. The highest scorer was Ijaz Ahmed who made 54.
After their openers Roshan Mahanama (55 runs in 92 balls, 4x3) and Brendan Kuruppu (35) put on 72 runs for the first wicket the Sri Lankans never looked back and reached the target in the 39th over for the loss of 5 wickets.
Pakistan 194/7 in 44 overs (Ijaz Ahamed 54, Saleem Malik 30, Javed Miandad 25; G. Labrooy 3/36, Ravi Ratnayeke 2/27, K. Wijegunawardene 2/29)
Sri Lanka 195/5 in 38.5 overs (Roshan Mahanama 55, Brendan Kuruppu 35, Aravinda de Silva 48, Duleep Mendis 20n.o.; Wasim Akram 2/34)
Man of the match - Roshan Mahanama. (55 runs and 3 catches)

Indian scalp

Sri Lanka’s second match was against India. And the islanders notched up a 17-run win.
India’s captain Dilip Vengsarkar won the toss and invited Sri Lanka to bat first. Aided by two half centuries - Athula Samarasekera (66 runs in 69 balls, 4x2, 6x1) and Aravinda de Silva (69 runs in 63 balls, 4x3) - and 32-ball 49 not out by Arjuna Ranatunga, who captained the team in the absence of injured Madugalle, Sri Lanka made an imposing 271/6 in their 45 overs.
And then they restricted the Indians to 254 with newcomer Kapila Wijegunawardene capturing 4 for 49.
Sri Lanka 271/6 in 45 overs (R. Mahanama 21, A. Samarasekera 66, A de silva 69, A. Ranatunga 49n.o; Kapil Dev 2/39)
India 254 in 44 overs (K Srikanth 42, NS Sidhu 50, M Amarnath 31, D Vengsarkar 34, M Azharuddin 34; K Wijegunawardene 4/49, A Ranatunga 2/27)
Man of the match - Aravinda de Silva.

Emphatic win

Sri Lanka next met Bangladesh and duly pocketed the tie by nine wickets. Sri Lanka used the match to try out some more players in the squad and in the absence of Ranatunga, Ravi Ratnayeke captained the team.
Bangladesh managed only 118/8 in their 45 overs as they found Ratnayeke too hot to handle. He captured 4 for 23 in eight overs.
Then he opened batting with Kuruppu and managed 17 runs. Kuruppu (58n.o) and Samarasekera 38 n.o led Sri Lanka to an emphatic win in 30.5 overs. The win put Sri Lanka in the final.
Man of the match - B. Kuruppu.

Low scores

Meanwhile, India met Pakistan in an eagerly awaited tie.
Both teams had one win each against Bangladesh (India beat them by nine wickets and Pakistan were victorious by 173 runs) while they had come unstuck against Sri Lanka. A win was very important for both teams.
Eventually it was the Indians who sealed the low scoring match by four wickets.
Pakistan who batted first managed only 142 as off break bowler Arshad Ayub captured 5 for 21 (then best bowling figures by an Indian in ODIs). Then led by an unbeaten 74 by Mohinder Amaranath, India registered a famous win against their archrivals.

Luck runs out

Sri Lanka went to the final (played in Dhaka on Nov 4) as favourites after remaining unbeaten. Ranatunga lost the toss and Sri Lanka batted first. For the first time in the tourney Sri Lanka’s batsmen failed and they managed only 176 with Mendis’ 36 being the highest. It was their bad running more than their poor stroke-play that put the Lankans in a hole. Samarasekera, de Silva, Ranatunga and Ratnayeke found themselves lacking speed or being extremely unlucky.
India embraced the good fortune with both hands. And opener Navjot Singh Sidhu took the game away from Sri Lanka. His 76 made in 87 balls included 4 fours and 3 sixes. Captain Vengsarkar made an unbeaten 50. India clinched the match by six wickets inside 38 overs and put their hands around the Asia Cup for the second time.
Sidhu was the man of the match and he also pocketed the man of the series title in virtue of his three half centuries in the tournament.
Sri Lanka 176 in 43.2 overs (R. Mahanama 23, B. Kuruppu 21, A. Samarasekera 26, D. Mendis 36; K. Srikanth 3/12)
India 180/ 4 in 37.1 overs (K. Srikanth 23, N. Sidhu 76, D. Vengsarkar 50n.o; K. Wijegunawardene 2/33).

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