The Asia Cup is an international One Day International cricket tournament. It was established in 1983 when the Asian Cricket Council was founded as a measure to promote goodwill between Asian countries. It was originally scheduled to be held every two years. The first tournament was held in 1984 in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates where the council's offices were based (until 1995).

The International Cricket Council has ruled that all games played for the Asia Cup have official One Day International status. India along with Sri Lanka has lifted the Asia cup the most times (four). India appeared in every final apart from the 1986 (India pulled out due to strained cricketing relations with Sri Lanka), 1993 (when it was cancelled due to strained political relations between India and Pakistan) and 2000 cups. Sri Lanka, however, have appeared in every final since the cup's inception. The ACC have announced that the tournament will be held biennially from 2008 onwards.