Asia Cup 2022: Most successful captains in Asia Cup history 

image-l7a5paxfIndian team lifting the Asia Cup trophy

Asia Cup has always been a tournament to look forward to for cricket fans around the globe. It is considered to be the second biggest multinational tournament after the ICC global events.

The tournament was held for the first time in the year 1984 in the United Arab Emirates and since then it has been organized 14 times, with team India winning it a record seven times.

Year by year, there have been some great captains, including world cup winning captains, who made their mark in the Asia Cup.

The 15th edition of the Asia Cup is all set to commence from this Saturday (27th of August) in the United Arab Emirates. Before we get on with the 2022 edition, let’s take a look at the most successful captains in the history of the Asia Cup.


5. Mashrafe Mortaza (Bangladesh)

image-l7a5qsetMashrafe Mortaza 

The former Bangladeshi skipper, Mashrafe Mortaza is one of the most underrated cricket brains, in the shorter formats. Bangladesh has been the most improved team in this tournament in the last decade. They managed to reach the finals three times in the last four editions, with Mortaza as captain in the last two editions. The Tigers won six out of eleven matches under his captaincy, making him the most successful Bangladeshi captain to lead the country in Asia Cup.


4. Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan)

image-l7a5rwwmMisbah-ul-Haq

Pakistan has two Asia Cup titles in history and Misbah-ul-Haq won the most recent one in 2012 in Bangladesh. Pakistan never reached two consecutive Asia Cup finals in history, until Misbah’s men did it in 2014. Misbah has a win percentage of 70 as captain. He is also the most successful Pakistani captain in this tournament in terms of wins (7 wins in 10 matches) and third overall, behind MS Dhoni and Arjuna Ranatunga.


3. Arjuna Ranatunga (Sri Lanka)

image-l7a5tklaArjuna Ranatunga

The legendary Sri Lankan world cup winning captain, Arjuna Ranatunga captained Sri Lanka to their second Asia Cup title in the year 1997 in Sri Lanka. Ranatunga’s captaincy career was full of peaks and valleys. He won the World Cup for Sri Lanka in 1996, followed by an Asia Cup title the year after. Ranatunga’s Sri Lanka defeated India for the first time in an Asia Cup final and took home the trophy for the second time in history. Ranatunga led Sri Lanka in four Asia Cup editions. He has the second most number of wins in tournament’s history, winning 9 out of 13 games and an impressive winning percentage of 69.23.


2. Mohammad Azharuddin (India)

image-l7a5v6lrMohammad Azharuddin

Mohammad Azharuddin surely makes it to the top two of this list as he was the first captain to win two Asia Cup titles and in two consecutive editions. India won their third Asia Cup title in 1991 under the leadership of Azharuddin, followed by a fourth title in the year 1995. He has a win percentage of 71.42 with five wins in seven games in two editions of Asia Cup.2


1. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (India)

image-l7a5we72MS Dhoni

There should not be any surprise seeing the name of MS Dhoni at the top of this list. The charismatic leader is very well known for his work as a captain in all formats. India won 14 games under the captaincy of Dhoni, including two titles in 2010 and 2016. Dhoni-led India clinched the fifth Asia Cup title in their history in 2010. He was also the first captain to win the first ever T20 edition of the Asia Cup in 2016. Dhoni is the only captain to win two Asia Cup titles since Mohammad Azharuddin. He had an impressive win percentage of 76.31 and led India for the last time in Asia Cup against Afghanistan in 2018.

Also Read: Asia Cup Team Analysis of Afghanistan