The competition is contested by Asian members' senior men's national cricket teams, determining the continental champion of Asia.

The first edition was held in 1984 in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates where the council's offices were based until 1995.

India boycotted the 1986 tournament due to strained cricketing relations with Sri Lanka.

The ICC has ruled that all games played in the Asia Cup have official ODI status.

After downsizing the Asian Cricket Council in 2015, it was announced by the ICC that Asia Cup events from 2016 would be played on a rotation basis between One Day International and Twenty20 International format, on the basis of the format of upcoming world events.

The first edition of the Rothmans Asia Cup was held in 1984[4][5][6][7] in Sharjah, UAE, the location of the headquarters of the newly formed Asian Cricket Council.

India and Sri Lanka made it to the final by virtue of better run rate than Pakistan as all three teams had equal points after the preliminary round.

Bangladesh had the distinction of reaching the second stage in a major tournament for the first time, but played poorly in the Super Fours and got eliminated.

Sri Lanka beat India in the final comfortably winning their fourth Asia Cup.

Sanath Jayasuriya scored a quick 125 off 114 balls to rescue Sri Lanka from 66/4 earlier on when the top order collapsed.

The tenth edition was held in Sri Lanka, between 15 and 24 June 2010 hosting the Asia Cup for the fourth time.

Sri Lanka defeated Pakistan by 5 wickets in the final to win the Asia Cup for the fifth time.

After the Asian Cricket Council was downsized by the ICC in 2015, it was announced that Asia Cup tournaments would be played on rotation basis in ODI and T20I format.

The 2016 edition of the Asia Cup tournament was held in Bangladesh for the third consecutive time from 24 February to 6 March.

India won all of its matches played in Asia Cup 2016 beating Bangladesh 2 times, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and UAE.

On 29 October 2015, following the Asian Cricket Council meeting in Singapore, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur stated that the 2018 edition of the tournament would be held in India.

[15] However, in April 2018, the tournament was moved to the United Arab Emirates, due to political tensions between India and Pakistan.

United Arab Emirates hosted the tournament and Sri Lanka won the Asia Cup beating Pakistan by 23 runs in the final.

Sri Lanka reached the final as the only unbeaten team in the Super-Four stage winning against Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan.

India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan qualified to play in the tournament.

India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka qualified to play the Super fours stage.

[3] Note: An overview of the teams' performances in every Asia Cup: India has most titles i.e. 8, while Sri Lanka has second highest 6.