Back in Sharjah after a gap
There should have been an Asia Cup in 1993. Pakistan were due to host it and India would not travel, and after months of argument the tournament was abandoned rather than moved. The competition therefore skipped a cycle and returned in April 1995 at the venue that had staged the first one, Sharjah, with all seven matches played at the same ground over ten days.
The field was the familiar four: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The format was a straight round-robin with the top two going to a final, and for the first time it was played over the full fifty overs a side rather than the 45 or 46 of the early editions.
Three teams, four points each
Bangladesh lost all three of their matches, which meant the other three shared the remaining results between them and finished level. India beat Bangladesh and Sri Lanka; Pakistan beat Bangladesh and India; Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh and Pakistan. Two wins each, four points each, and qualification decided on run rate.
Pakistan's win over India on 7 April was the most emphatic result of the group. Inzamam-ul-Haq made 88 from 100 balls in a total of 266 for 9, and Aaqib Javed then took 5 for 19 from nine overs as India were bowled out for 169. It should have been the performance of the tournament. Instead it counted for nothing: Pakistan's narrower margins elsewhere, and India's nine-wicket and eight-wicket wins, left them third on run rate and out.
India's win over Sri Lanka two days later was the innings people remembered. Sachin Tendulkar made 112 from 107 balls and India chased 203 in 33.1 overs. He finished the tournament as its leading run-scorer with 205.
The final
Sri Lanka batted first on 14 April and made 230 for 7, Asanka Gurusinha grinding out 85 from 122 balls. It was a competitive score at Sharjah but not a large one, and India's reply barely faltered. Navjot Sidhu, whose consistency across the tournament earned him the player of the series award, gave the innings its start, and Mohammad Azharuddin finished it with 90 not out from 121 balls. India won by eight wickets with eight overs and a ball unused.
It was India's third Asia Cup in a row and their fourth of the five played. That dominance is worth qualifying: two of those three consecutive titles had come in tournaments with a major team missing, and this one was decided by run rate in a group where three sides could not be separated on results.