Back to four teams, and one ground
After two editions of six teams and Super Fours, the 2010 Asia Cup went back to the shape of the 1990s: four sides, a single round-robin, a final, seven matches in ten days. The associates were left out. Every match was played at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, an inland ground overlooking a reservoir in Sri Lanka's Central Province, because the Premadasa in Colombo and the other main venues were closed for reconstruction ahead of the 2011 World Cup. All seven were day-night fixtures.
Afridi's tournament, Sri Lanka's group
The competition belonged statistically to a player whose team did not reach the final. Shahid Afridi, in his first months as Pakistan's one-day captain, made 109 from 76 balls in the opening match against Sri Lanka and 124 from 60 balls against Bangladesh, finishing with 265 runs at a strike rate of 164. He was named player of the tournament. Pakistan still lost two of their three matches.
The first of those defeats set the tone. Sri Lanka made 242 for 9, Angelo Mathews finishing on 55 not out, and Afridi's hundred took Pakistan to within sight before Lasith Malinga returned 5 for 34 and closed it out by sixteen runs. Four days later Pakistan made 267 against India and lost by three wickets with a ball to spare, Gautam Gambhir making 83.
Sri Lanka won all three of their group matches, including a seven-wicket win over India on 22 June in which Farveez Maharoof took 5 for 42. India lost that one and still qualified second on results.
The final
India batted first on 24 June and made 268 for 6. There was no century; Dinesh Karthik's 66 from 84 balls was the highest score, and he took the man of the match award for it. Sri Lanka's chase never established itself. Ashish Nehra took 4 for 40 from nine overs, Chamara Kapugedera was left stranded on 55 not out from 88 balls, and Sri Lanka were bowled out for 187 with more than five overs unused.
The 81-run margin was comfortable and slightly surprising: Sri Lanka had been the better side all week and had beaten India two days earlier. It was India's fifth Asia Cup, taking them clear of Sri Lanka at the head of the roll of honour, and MS Dhoni's first as captain. The four-team format did not survive; by 2014 the tournament had five sides again, and it has not been that small since.