5 most thrilling encounters in Asia Cup history

In less than 2 weeks, the 14th edition of the prestigious Asia Cup will kick-off. The first edition of this tournament was played in 1984 in Sharjah, UAE and for the last 29 years, the Asia Cup has always been a special tournament for the sub-continent fans.

It all started with only 3 nations- India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, competing in a round-robin tournament and 29 years later, the number of nations competing for the trophy has doubled to 6.

A total of 6 nations- Hong Kong, Malaysia, Nepal, Oman, UAE, and Singapore are currently competing in the Aisa Cup qualifiers tournament where the winning side will earn a great opportunity to compete with the other 5 Asia Cup contenders- India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.

The Asia Cup 2018 is scheduled to be played at the UAE soil from September 15th to 28th. Unlike the last Asia Cup, this time the competing format will be ODI cricket.

A prestigious tournament where teams give their best to win the trophy for their respective nations; is sure to feature some of the most thrilling encounters. Asia Cup is no different and in this piece, we'll take a look at 5 most thrilling matches ever played in the tournament.

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#1 When Shahid Afridi took the game away from India

The 6th match of the 2014 Asia Cup saw the arch-rivals India and Pakistan collide where the latter won a thriller owing to Shahid Afridi's 34 runs off 18 deliveries at the end.

On a slow wicket, India batted first and were 155/5 in 36.1 overs. Rohit Sharma, the opener, contributed good 56 runs but lacked support from fellow batsmen to stitch a partnership. Ambati Rayudu and Ravindra Jadeja's crucial knocks of 58 and 52* took India to 245/8 in 50 overs.

In reply, Pakistan were 113/4 in 22.2 overs. Mohammad Hafeez played a slow but terrific knock of 75 runs off 117 balls. At 203/6 with 5.2 overs remaining, Afridi walked in. Wickets kept falling off the other end as Pak were 236/8 in 49 overs but Afridi continued to strike hard.

The tailender Seed Ajmal was dismissed by Ashwin on the first ball of the 50th over but Afridi hit 2 sixes to finish the game.

#2 When Binny-Shastri and India's fielding did the trick

The inaugural edition of Asia Cup's final match was a major game for both India and Pakistan. Stakes were high and so was the competition, but tight spells by Roger Binny and Ravi Shastri combined with India's tight fielding led the match to India's corner.

Batting first, India could manage only 188 runs on the board in 46 overs owing to Pakistan's tough bowling attack. India was heavily dependent on Roger Binny who delivered as per expectations by swinging the ball well and took crucial wickets of Zaheer Abbas and Qasim Umar.

Ravi Shastri, the left-arm orthodox bowler, shined with the ball by taking the vital wickets of Mohsin Khan and Mudassar Nazar.

Pakistan was bowled out at 134 in 39.2 overs and India won by 54 runs. A lot of credit behind this victory goes to the Indian fielders who did splendid work by stopping the ball racing towards the boundary and running out 4 opposition batsmen.

#3 A true nail-biter between Pakistan and Bangladesh at Dhaka

The year 2012 saw Bangladesh upset major teams like India and Sri Lanka by delivering excellent collective batting and bowling efforts and making it to the finals, where they lost to Pakistan by 2 runs in a thrilling contest.

On a spin-friendly track, Bangladeshi bowlers did very well and managed to restrict Pakistan to 236. Sarfraz Ahmed and Mohammad Hafeez scored 46* and 40 respectively. Shahid Afridi contributed vital 32 runs off 22 deliveries.

In reply, Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan registered terrific 60 and 68 runs respectively but Bangladesh were tottering at 217/8 in 47.4 overs. With 23 runs required off 18 balls and four wickets remaining, Bangladesh were close to a historic win, but with the excellent last two overs, Pakistan took the game away as Bangladesh were restricted to 234/8.

Aizaz Cheema bowled an excellent final over. He gave away only 7 runs in the last over of the match.

#4 When Harbhajan Singh finished off in style

The 4th match of Asia Cup 2010 between India and Pakistan was expected to be a high-octane clash and it turned out to be exactly that with an added pinch of thrill at the end.

Batting first on the slow wicket of Dambulla, Pakistan put up 267 runs on the board, courtesy of terrific half-centuries by Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal who scored 74 and 51 respectively.

In reply, the duo of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir walked out to bat. Sehwag and Kohli departed quickly but the aggressive Gautam Gambhir tackled the fine Pakistani bowling attack really well and went on to register a magnificent knock of 83 runs.

MS Dhoni played a composed and crucial knock of 56 runs. When he departed, India were 210/5 in 42.2 overs. With 36 runs to win from 23 deliveries, Harbhajan Singh went big by hitting Shoaib Akhtar clean over mid-on for six.

Suresh Raina, the dependable southpaw, hammered a six on the 1st ball of the 49th over bowled by Shoaib Akhtar. 10 runs were required from 11 deliveries.

Akhtar made a solid comeback and India required 7 runs to win in the last over. On the 2nd ball of the final over bowled by Mohammad Amir, Raina got run-out after scoring significant 34 runs.

On the 2nd last ball of the match and with 3 runs to win, Harbhajan swung the blade perfectly and the ball sailed over the ground for six, resulting in India's victory with 1 ball remaining.

#5 Javed Miandad' six that itched its glory in the history of cricket

The final match of the Asia Cup 1986 at Sharjah witnessed cricketing competition of the best caliber where India lost to Pakistan in a super-thrilling contest.

Batting first, India set a target of 246 runs for Pakistan, thanks to the top 3 batsmen- K Srikkant, S Gavaskar, and D Vengserkar, who played marvelous knocks of 75,92 and 50 respectively.

In reply, Pakistani batsmen kept falling prey to the Indian bowlers except for their captain Javed Miandad, who continued to hold the fort for his team.

Saleem Malik and Abdul Qadir stitched good partnerships with Miandad but the wickets kept falling in quick successions after these two departed. Chetan Sharma, who was balling beautifully thus far, was given the last over to bowl.

With 1 ball remaining and 6 runs to win, Javed was batting exceptionally well on 110 runs. The match was in India's court, but Javed, mentally very strong that he was, took the full advantage of a low full-toss bowled by Sharma by sending the ball to the stands via the aerial route, thus anchored Pakistan to a miraculous win.