India have traditionally dominated the Women’s Asia Cup, but things are very likely to be different this time, for Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Bangladesh have all improved significantly of late.
The timeline of the Women’s Asia Cup can be grouped into two. The first four editions – from 2004 to 2008 – were played in ODI format, and were restricted to only India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, both in terms of participation and hosting rights. In fact, the inaugural edition (2004) was a bilateral five-match series between India and Sri Lanka.
In this phase, India played 20 matches and won each of them, while Sri Lanka beat Pakistan six out of six times. There was little doubt over the respective positions of the three sides.
Then, in 2012, two major changes took place. First, the format switched to T20Is (though matches featuring Associates did not get T20 status until the 2018 edition). And secondly, the tournament spread beyond three teams. Each edition now boasted of eight teams, while the hosting rights went to China (2012), Thailand (2014), and Malaysia (2018).
India have won 17 T20Is in this phase and lost three, which has given them a win-loss ratio of 5.667. This is significantly superior to Pakistan’s 1.375, Bangladesh’s 1, and Sri Lanka’s 0.889. Restrict it to only the matches between the four sides, and the numbers read 3.667 for India, 1 for Pakistan, and 0.5 for the other two Full Members.
There is little doubt, thus, that the Asia Cup has traditionally been an easy run for the Indian team. In eight attempts, they have won seven trophies and finished runners-up in the other. One can understand the ecstasy of the men’s team when Bangladesh Women became the only team – other than India – to lift the trophy.
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The Asia Cup, thus, has seldom produced stern opposition to India, where women's cricket has been boosted further by the WPL. In another time, the 2024 edition would have been too easy a challenge to serve as excellent preparation for them ahead of a T20 World Cup.
It is very likely to be different this time.
No longer a one-horse race
In the 20th century, the sport was dominated by Australia and England, with New Zealand a distant third. The rise of India in the 2000s, and of South Africa and the West Indies in the 2010s, provided welcome change. The West Indies then fell behind, leaving a gap between the top five teams and the others. Let us call this quintet – Australia, England, India, New Zealand, South Africa – The Big Five.
Until the end of 2022, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka had, between them, won 21 T20Is against The Big Five and lost 131 – a win-loss ratio of 0.16. In ODIs, they fared worse: 14 wins and 171 defeats gave them a ratio of 0.082, lower than a win per ten defeats.
Since the start of 2023, however, things changed significantly. Sri Lanka beat South Africa at the 2023 T20 World Cup. At home, they won a T20I against New Zealand for the first time. More significantly, they beat England (again, Sri Lanka’s first T20I win against them) and South Africa by 2-1 margins – away from home. In ODIs, they beat New Zealand 2-1 at home and drew 1-1 in South Africa.
Pakistan were just as impressive. They swept the home series against South Africa 3-0 (and won an ODI to boot) and beat New Zealand 2-1 at their den. At home, Bangladesh drew the ODIs against India 1-1 and won a T20I; in South Africa, they drew the T20Is 1-1 and won an ODI.
This was a substantial improvement for all three nations. The difference in performance was stark for each of the three teams.
Sri Lanka’s rise has been steep, but Pakistan have impressed as well. Bangladesh, the newest of the teams, have some distance to go, but they have improved as well.
The story is not very different in the ODIs. While it is often not prudent to combine formats, a significant number of cricketers do play both formats, especially in countries where the talent pool is not as deep.
Yet again, Sri Lanka stand out. Bangladesh have left Pakistan behind, but the latter have also improved on their past record. Overall, there is little doubt that India are going to face a sterner challenge at the 2024 Asia Cup.
More than a year ago, Chamari Athapaththu had spoken about the importance of all three countries developing their structure. SLC trebled the match fees of the women and announced a US$ 250 bonus for every win. In 2023, PCB raised the salaries of the centrally contracted cricketers and increased the number of domestic contracts to 74. The generation of Bangladeshi cricketers that beat Australia at the 2023 Under-19 World Cup has started to break into the senior team. Things are looking up.
This is not to say that all these have had immediate impacts on the teams. These effects reflect over time. But given the initiatives taken by the boards and the abundance of young talent, there is reason to believe that this phase is not a flash in the pan. All of them will set out to challenge India.
Make no mistake. India will still begin the tournament as firm favourites, but something has changed: them not winning the Asia Cup will not be a rank upset this time. All three nations will be out to take points from them.
And while we are there, let us not forget Thailand, who had impressed against Pakistan at the 2020 T20 World Cup and beaten them in the 2022 Asia Cup.
All in all, this will be as good a contest India can hope for ahead of the World Cup, in conditions not too different from what they would expect in October.
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