The 2004 established Asian Cricket Council Women’s Asia Cup (ACC W-Asia Cup) is a women’s One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) tournament. The women’s Asia cup is the only continental championship in women’s cricket that has the winner holds the title for a couple of years. The tournament was initially played in the ODI format and after four seasons, all editions ahead were played in the T20I format.
The Asia Cup’s 2020 edition was postponed to 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic but then was canceled and is all set to return later this year on Bangladeshi soil. The tournament since its first edition saw India as championships on as many as 6 occasions out of 7 and the only occasions India failed to win was back in 2018 when Bangladesh handed India a stunning defeat off the last ball in an absolute enthralling match.
One-Day Internationals (50-over format)
2004 Women’s Asia Cup
The first-ever women’s Asia Cup was played in Sri Lanka in April 2004 and it featured only teams, hosts (Sri Lanka) and India. The two sides played a 5-match ODI series which saw India win all of the five matches comprehensively to register a 5-0 whitewash over Sri Lanka in the inaugural edition of the Asia Cup. The tournament had Anju Jain finish with the most runs (231), Mamatha Maben with the most wickets (10) and Anjum Chopra as the player of the series.
2005-2006 Women’s Asia Cup
This edition saw the teams count go up by 1 as Pakistan joined in and also hosted the tournament in the same year in Karachi from the 28th of December 2005 to the 4th of January 2006. India again registered 5-straight comprehensive wins and won the tournament beating Sri Lanka in the final by 97 runs. The tournament saw Jaya Sharma finish with the most runs (258) and Neetu David with the most wickets (09).
2006 Women’s Asia Cup
The third women’s Asia Cup tournament was played in Jaipur, India in December 2006. The tournament had India register 5-straight wins to win the tournament making it a hat-trick. India this time in the final beat Sri Lanka by eight wickets and had Dedunu Silva finish with the most (163) runs and Thirush Kamini finish with the most (8) wickets. The two also shared the player of the series award.
2008 Women’s Asia Cup
The fourth edition of the women’s Asia Cup returned to Sri Lanka and had the team’s count go up by 1, making it a total of 4 with Bangladesh’s entry. The structure saw each side play the other twice in the group stage and the top 2 teams based on points at the end of the group stages met each other in a final. India again won the tournament in 7-straight wins defeating Sri Lanka in the final by 177 runs and Rumeli Dhar was awarded as the player of the series.
Twenty20 cricket (20-over format)
2012 Women’s Asia Cup
The fifth edition of the women’s Asia Cup was revamped as it was played in the T20 format and featured 8 teams with China, Nepal, Hong Kong and Thailand in the mix. The edition was played in Guanggong Cricket Stadium, Guangzhou, China from 24 to 31 October 2012. India and Pakistan in the same Group A had India with 3 wins in 3 games top with Pakistan next with a couple wins in 3 games. Group B had Bangladesh register 3 wins in 3 games to top the tally with Sri Laka following. India and Pakistan in the semi-final defeated Sri Lanka and Bangladesh respectively and made it to the finals. The India and Pakistan clash this time around was an entertaining one as India were bowled out for 81 in 20 overs and responded strongly with the ball and won by 19 runs. The tournament had Bismah Maroof finish with the most runs (113) and win the player of the series award.
2016 Women’s Asia Cup
The sixth Women’s Asia Cup tournament was played in Thailand, from 27 November to 4 December 2016 with Chain and Hong Kong not among the mix. India on this occasion again won all of their 5 matches and in the final again handed Pakistan a defeat by 17 runs, this time in convincing fashion. The win had India register a double hat-trick of title wins at the Asia Cup. The tournament saw Mithali Raj with the most (220) runs win the player of the series award and Sana Mir finish with the most (12) wickets.
2018 Women’s Asia Cup
The seventh Women’s Asia Cup tournament was played in Malaysia from the 3rd of June to the 10th of June 2018. India this time had lost a game in the league stage to Bangladesh as the side chased down the total of 141 comfortably with 7 wickets in hand. Both India and Bangladesh finished with 8 points having lost a game each of their 5 and when the two again met in the final, Bangladesh had India down to a total of 112/9 in 20 overs that Bangladesh chased down off the last ball to register a 3-wicket win and win their maiden Asia Cup title denying India their 7th. Harmanpreet Kaur finished the tournament with the most (215) runs and was awarded as the player of the series. Nida Dar finished with the most (11) wickets.
2020 Women’s Asia Cup
The 2020 edition of the tournament was scheduled to take place in September in Bangladesh, but it was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and then was canceled due to the second wave of the pandemic.
2022 Women’s Asia Cup
The 2022 edition will be held in Bangladesh. Watch out for this space for more updates.