Sri Lanka defeated Pakistan by 23 runs in the final at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday (September 11) to lift the Twenty-20 Asia Cup for the first time.
The first Asia Cup in the T20 format was played in 2016 in Bangladesh. India won the tournament after beating Bangladesh in the final.
Overall, it was Sri Lanka’s sixth Asia Cup title. They also won in 1986, 1997, 2004, 2008 and 2014 when Asia Cups were played in the One Day International format.
The first Twenty-20 Asia Cup was played in 2016 in Bangladesh and India became the first winners after beating Bangladesh by eight wickets in the final. They were eliminated in the Super Four stage in this edition.
It was the first time when Sri Lanka won the final match after losing their first five wickets inside 10 overs when batting first. Before the 2022 Asia Cup final, only once did Sri Lanka?win a Twenty-20 International - batting first or second - despite losing half their side in fewer than 8.5 overs (as was the case on Sunday) - against Australia at Geelong on February 19, 2017, when they lost their top five within 4.3 overs.
After losing to Afghanistan in the first match of the tournament, Sri Lanka won the next five matches to win the Asia Cup. It was only the second time when Sri Lanka have won five successive Twenty-20 Internationals. The last time, Sri Lanka won five consecutive Twenty-20 Internationals before this Asia Cup was in the 2013-14 season. They won five Twenty-20 Internationals in succession before losing to England in the group phase of the 2014 Twenty-20 World Cup.
The 4-18 is the win-loss record of teams batting first in Twenty-20 Internationals in Dubai?since the start of 2021. Sri Lanka's total of 170 for 6 was the lowest among the four instances of teams successfully defending in Dubai in the last 12 months.
1984 - Sharjah - ODI - India - Sri Lanka;
1986 - Sri Lanka - ODI - Sri Lanka - Pakistan;
1988 - Bangladesh - ODI - India - Sri Lanka;
1990-91 - India - ODI - India - Sri Lanka;
1995 - Sharjah - ODI - India - Sri Lanka;
1997 - Sri Lanka - ODI - Sri Lanka - India;
2000 - Bangladesh - ODI - Pakistan - Sri Lanka;
2004 - Sri Lanka - ODI - Sri Lanka - India;
2008 - Pakistan - ODI - Sri Lanka - India;
2010 - Sri Lanka - ODI - India - Sri Lanka;
2012 - Bangladesh - ODI - Pakistan - Bangladesh;
2014 - Bangladesh - ODI - Sri Lanka - Pakistan;
2016 - Bangladesh - T20 - India - Bangladesh;
2018 - UAE - ODI - India - Bangladesh;
2022 - UAE - T20 - Sri Lanka - Pakistan.