Champions at home
Sri Lanka came into the 1997 Asia Cup as the reigning world champions, having won the World Cup in Lahore fifteen months earlier with a method - openers attacking the field restrictions, spinners squeezing the middle overs - that other sides were still working out how to counter. The tournament was played in Colombo across two grounds, the R. Premadasa Stadium and the Sinhalese Sports Club, in the middle of the monsoon, and the weather duly cost one fixture entirely.
The field was unchanged from 1995: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, in a round-robin with a final.
Rain and a missing fixture
Sri Lanka opened by defending 239 against Pakistan, Marvan Atapattu making 80 and Sanath Jayasuriya taking 4 for 49. Pakistan then made 319 for 5 against Bangladesh, Saeed Anwar scoring 90, before Saqlain Mushtaq's 5 for 38 wrapped the reply up.
On 18 July Sri Lanka beat India in the match that effectively settled the group. India made 227 for 6, Mohammad Azharuddin unbeaten on 81, and Arjuna Ranatunga then batted through the chase for 131 not out from 152 balls, an innings of accumulation rather than force. It was the highest score of the tournament and the foundation of his 272 runs, more than anyone else managed.
India and Pakistan were then scheduled to meet at the SSC on 20 July. Venkatesh Prasad reduced Pakistan to 30 for 5 in nine overs before the rain arrived and did not stop; the match was declared a no result. A reserve day was set aside for 21 July and washed out without a ball being bowled. Both sides took a point from the abandonment, and India's win over Bangladesh on 24 July, sealed in fifteen overs, took them to the final on run rate.
The final
India batted first at the Premadasa on 26 July and made 239 for 7, Azharuddin again the top scorer with 81 from 102 balls. Against most sides that would have been enough for a contest. Sri Lanka reached it inside 37 overs.
Atapattu made 84 from 101 balls, his second man of the match performance of the tournament, and Sri Lanka lost only two wickets. The eight-wicket margin with more than thirteen overs unused was the most one-sided Asia Cup final to that point.
It was Sri Lanka's second title and the end of India's three-tournament run. Ranatunga, who had captained the side and scored more runs than anyone, was named player of the tournament. Sri Lanka had won every match they played.