Twice postponed
The 2022 Asia Cup should have been played in 2020. It was postponed in July of that year because of the pandemic, rescheduled for June 2021 and postponed again. When it finally took place, Pakistan held the hosting rights but the matches were staged in the United Arab Emirates, across Dubai and Sharjah, for the same reasons of access that had moved the 2018 edition. The format was Twenty20, matching the World Twenty20 in Australia six weeks later.
Sri Lanka arrived having lost a home Twenty20 series to Australia and with a squad missing several senior players. They began by being bowled out for 105 by Afghanistan and losing by eight wickets with 59 balls to spare. They then won every match they played.
Afghanistan and the Super Four
Afghanistan were the story of the group stage. They beat Sri Lanka and then Bangladesh, whose tournament lasted two matches. Fazalhaq Farooqi's 3 for 11 and Mujeeb Ur Rahman's 3 for 16 did most of the damage. In the Super Four they lost to Sri Lanka by four wickets, then to Pakistan by one wicket on 7 September, when Naseem Shah, a fast bowler batting at number ten, hit the first two balls he faced from Fazalhaq Farooqi for six to win the match. They finished with a 101-run defeat to India, in which Virat Kohli made 122 not out from 61 balls, his first international hundred for almost three years, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar took 5 for 4.
India and Pakistan met twice. India won the group match on 28 August by five wickets with two balls left, Hardik Pandya finishing it with a six. Pakistan won the Super Four fixture on 4 September by five wickets with a ball to spare, Mohammad Rizwan making 71. India then lost to Sri Lanka and were out.
The final
Pakistan and Sri Lanka met at Dubai on 11 September. Sri Lanka were 58 for 5 in the ninth over before Bhanuka Rajapaksa made 71 not out from 45 balls and Wanindu Hasaranga 36 from 21; they finished on 170 for 6. Haris Rauf took 3 for 29.
Pakistan lost Babar Azam early and never recovered the rate. Mohammad Rizwan made 55 from 49 balls but could not accelerate, Pramod Madushan took 4 for 34, and Pakistan were bowled out for 147 with the last wicket falling on the final ball of the innings.
It was Sri Lanka's sixth Asia Cup. Hasaranga was player of the tournament, Rizwan the leading run-scorer with 281 and Bhuvneshwar Kumar the leading wicket-taker with eleven.