Moved before it started
India had the hosting rights for 2018 and could not use them: Pakistan would have needed visas to travel and there was no prospect of them being issued. The tournament was relocated to the United Arab Emirates in April, five months before it began, and split between Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It was the third Asia Cup staged in the Emirates after 1984 and 1995, and the format reverted to fifty overs after the Twenty20 experiment of 2016, in line with the 2019 World Cup that followed.
Six teams took part: the five full members of the Asian Cricket Council plus Hong Kong, who had won the Asia Cup Qualifier despite losing their one-day international status at the World Cup Qualifier in March.
Afghanistan's fortnight
The tournament is remembered for Afghanistan. They beat Sri Lanka by 91 runs on 17 September, which with Bangladesh's earlier 137-run win eliminated Sri Lanka after two matches. They then beat Bangladesh by 136 runs, Rashid Khan taking 2 for 13 from nine overs. In the Super Four they lost to Pakistan by three wickets off the third-last ball and to Bangladesh by three runs.
On 25 September they played India, who had already qualified for the final and rested several senior players. Mohammad Shahzad made 124 from 116 balls and Afghanistan reached 252 for 8. India were bowled out for exactly 252 with a ball remaining. It was the first tied match in the history of the competition.
Hong Kong, meanwhile, came within 26 runs of India on 18 September, Nizakat Khan making 92 and Anshuman Rath 73 in a chase of 286. Neither association side had come as close before.
The final
India and Bangladesh met at Dubai on 28 September. Bangladesh batted first and were 120 for 1 before losing wickets steadily; Litton Das made 121 from 117 balls, and Kuldeep Yadav's 3 for 45 helped restrict them to 222.
India's chase went to the last ball. They were 83 for 3 and later 173 for 6; Rohit Sharma had made 48 and Dinesh Karthik 37. Kedar Jadhav, who had left the field with a hamstring injury, returned at number ten and was unbeaten on 23 when Kuldeep Yadav pushed the winning single off the fiftieth over's last delivery. India won by three wickets.
Shikhar Dhawan, with 342 runs, was player of the tournament, and India had a seventh title. Rashid Khan, Mustafizur Rahman and Kuldeep Yadav shared the leading wicket tally with ten each.