Why did India boycott the Asia Cup 1986?

By Ravi - Sep 14, 2025 01:46 PM
Last updated on Sep 14, 2025 01:46 PM

The 17th edition of the Asia Cup is being held in two cities of the UAE - Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Today, the biggest match of the tournament is to be played between India and Pakistan in Dubai, but surprisingly, there is not much enthusiasm about the match this time. All the tickets for this high-voltage match have not been sold yet and the demand for boycotting this match is constantly rising on social media.

@narendramodi #BoycottINDvPAK pic.twitter.com/PC9KkCpJeK

— Rinku Sheoran (@Rinku_Sheoran_) September 14, 2025

All this is happening after the terrorist attack in Pahalgam and the battle of Operation Sindoor, where Indian fans are demanding the cancellation of this match after 26 innocent people lost their lives.

This is not the first time that there has been a controversy regarding India and the Asia Cup. Something similar was seen 39 years ago as well. In the year 1986, India boycotted the entire tournament. Why did India take this decision

Why did India boycott the Asia Cup 1986?

The first edition of the Asia Cup was held in the United Arab Emirates in 1984, when the tournament was played between three teams - India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. India won the first season of the Asia Cup by defeating Pakistan in the final match. After this, the second Asia Cup was to be held in Sri Lanka in 1986. But at that time there was a war going on in Sri Lanka. In such a situation, due to security reasons, the Indian government ordered the BCCI not to send a team to Sri Lanka. The result was that India boycotted the tournament.

A new team entered this tournament in place of India. It was none other than the Bangladesh cricket team, which had not played a single ODI match till then. Bangladesh made their ODI debut in the Asia Cup 1986. Where they faced Pakistan in the first match. In that match, Bangladesh scored only 95 runs and Pakistan won the match in 32 overs.

In the next match against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh scored 131 runs, which Sri Lanka achieved in just 31 overs. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka won the Asia Cup title for the first time by defeating Pakistan in the final.

Bangladesh hosted the 1988 Asia Cup

Bangladesh team again became a part of Asia Cup and hosted the tournament in 1988 edition. Indian team returned in this edition and won the title for the second time by defeating Sri Lanka in the final. India again hosted Asia Cup for the first time in 1990.

During that time Pakistan boycotted and India retained the Asia Cup title by defeating Sri Lanka again. The Asia Cup edition to be played in 1993 was cancelled. The tournament returned in 1995 and once again India won the trophy by defeating Sri Lanka in the final.

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