Two hosts, one tournament
Pakistan had the hosting rights for 2023 and India would not travel. The compromise, negotiated over months, was a hybrid model: Pakistan remained the official hosts and staged four matches at Multan and Lahore, while the other nine, including every match India played and the final, went to Sri Lanka. It satisfied nobody entirely. The Pakistan board complained afterwards that the Sri Lankan leg had been ruined by the monsoon, which it partly was.
Six teams took part. Nepal made their debut, having won the ACC Premier Cup, and lost both group matches. The tournament was played over fifty overs as a preparation for the World Cup in India that began three weeks later.
Rain, and a reserve day
The group match between India and Pakistan at Pallekele on 2 September was abandoned with India on 266 and Pakistan yet to bat. Shaheen Shah Afridi had taken 4 for 35. The organisers had already set aside a reserve day for the Super Four meeting between the same sides, a decision the other teams objected to and which duly proved necessary. That match, begun on 10 September and completed on 11 September, was the most one-sided India and Pakistan have played: Virat Kohli made 122 not out, KL Rahul 111 not out, India reached 356 for 2, and Kuldeep Yadav's 5 for 25 bowled Pakistan out for 128.
Sri Lanka's group win over Afghanistan on 5 September was the tightest match of the fortnight. Afghanistan needed 292 in 37.1 overs to go through on net run rate, and Mohammad Nabi's 65 from 32 balls took them to within reach before they were bowled out for 289 in the 38th over, two short.
Bangladesh beat India by six runs in the last Super Four match, Shakib Al Hasan making 80, but by then both finalists were settled.
Fifteen overs
The final at the Premadasa on 17 September lasted 21.3 overs in total. Sri Lanka batted first, were 12 for 6 inside five overs, and were bowled out for 50 in 15.2. Jasprit Bumrah took the first wicket; Mohammed Siraj took the next six, including four in the fourth over, and finished with 6 for 21.
India needed 51 and took 6.1 overs to get them without losing a wicket. Sri Lanka's 50 is the lowest total in Asia Cup history and the final the shortest completed one.
It was India's eighth title. Kuldeep Yadav was player of the tournament, Shubman Gill the leading run-scorer with 302 and Matheesha Pathirana the leading wicket-taker with eleven.