COLOMBO: Since 2019, India have played and won numerous bilateral series in all formats of the game. These successes, unfortunately, didn't translate to multi-team tournaments as they had not won a single trophy during the period.
To be more specific, they last won a three or more team tournament in September 2018 when the Men in Blue lifted the Asia Cup beating Bangladesh in the final. That edition was played in ODI format. In T20Is, the last time they brought home the cup from a tournament involving more than two teams was March 2018. They had then won a thrilling final against Bangladesh at the Nidahas Twenty 20 Tri-Series in Sri Lanka.
Since those two titles, India have played an ODI World Cup (2019), two T20 World Cups (2021, 2022), two World Test Championship finals (2021 and 2023) and a T20 Asia Cup (2022) but cannot end their trophy drought. So when the team takes on Sri Lanka in the 2023 Asia Cup final here at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday, it will be a golden opportunity for the team to end this barren run and get into a winning mood before the ODI World Cup begins at home on October 5.
India opener Shubman Gill too believes a win in the Asia Cup final will give the team a lot of confidence ahead of the World Cup. "Winning the final is very important for us because creating a winning habit is important. Peaking at the right time and gaining momentum at the right time is important for any team. It is also important for the team to maintain that momentum because losing in one or two matches can add pressure on you. Winning here will give us a lot of momentum and confidence going into the World Cup," he told journalists after India lost their last Super Four match to Bangladesh on Friday night.
But it will be easier said than done as they will be up against Sri Lanka in the summit clash. The team from the Island Nation is a different beast altogether when it competes at the continental tournament. Just twice in the 39-year history of the ODI version of the Asia Cup, they have not made it to the final. It happened in 2012 and 2018. As many as 14 editions including the ongoing one have been held in ODI format while two were held in T20 format with Sri Lanka reaching in 12 finals (11 ODIs and 1 T20Is). India have reached the finals on 10 occasions (9 ODIs and 1 T20I).
India are the most successful side in the tournament winning the trophy seven times (6 ODIs and 1 T20I). Only on three occasions it lost the final and all of those losses came against Sri Lanka in 1997, 2004 and 2008 respectively. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, had won six titles (5 ODIs and 1 T20I) so far. Gill admitted India need to be at their best if they want to beat Sri Lanka. "I think they (SL) have great momentum with them. The way they won the last match was great to see. We will have to pull up our socks, and we have to be at our 100 percent to beat them."
Among the six teams that are featuring here at the Asia Cup, four, excluding Nepal, will be playing against the hosts India at the World Cup. The wickets and conditions here in Sri Lanka and India are unlikely to differ a lot, making the event a perfect platform to prepare for the marquee event. "I think the kind of wickets we are playing is absolutely perfect. It is a great practice for batters and bowlers because these are the kind of pitches that we generally play in India. And definitely playing on these wickets against good teams against good oppositions under pressure is definitely that will help us in the World Cup," added Gill.