The Austral-Asia Cup was a One Day International cricket tournament held at Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The Arab cricketer, enthusiast and millionaire Abdur Rahman Bukhathir brought cricket initially to Sharjah in the mid-1980s and he masterminded a one-day tournament involving

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologi ...

's main cricketing nations – Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

First edition 1986

:Won by Pakistan The first tournament was held at Sharjah in April 1986. India beat New Zealand and Pakistan beat Australia in the first round. Sri Lanka as Asia Cup winners got a bye to the semi-final, where they lost to India. New Zealand fielding a weakened team were bowled all out for 64 in the other semi.

Abdul Qadir Abd al-Qadir or Abdulkadir ( ar, عبد القادر) is a male Muslim given name. It is formed from the Arabic words '' Abd'', '' al-'' and '' Qadir''. The name means "servant of the powerful", ''Al-Qādir'' being one of the names of God in th ...

took 4–9 in 10 overs. Pakistan and India met in the final in front of a capacity crowd of 20,000. India scored 245–7 with Sunil Gavaskar top-scoring with 92. Pakistan need 90 to win of the last ten overs.

Javed Miandad Mohammad Javed Miandad PP SI (Urdu: ; born 12 June 1957), popularly known as Javed Miandad (Urdu: ), is a Pakistani cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer known for his unconventional style of captaincy and batting. ESPNcricinfo des ...

held the innings together. In a tense finale, the last over bowled by

Chetan Sharma Chetan Sharma (born 3 January 1966) is a former Indian cricketer and politician who played Tests and ODIs as a fast bowler for Indian cricket team. On 24 December 2020, he was elected as Chairman of the selection committee of Indian cricket tea ...

began with 11 runs required. During the over two wickets fell and with Pakistan needing 4 runs and India one final wicket from the last ball. Chetan Sharma's intended yorker became a full toss which was dispatched into crowds by Javed for a six. Pakistan finished on 248–9 with Javed finishing on 116 not out. It is still considered one of the most historic moments in one-day cricket history and Javed became a Pakistani national hero.

Second edition 1990

:Won by Pakistan The second tournament took place in April 1990 at Sharjah with

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

joining in. The six teams were split into 2 groups: Group A: Australia, New Zealand and Bangladesh Group B: India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. With Bangladesh and India falling by the wayside, Australia beat Sri Lanka in the first semi-final with

Simon O'Donnell Simon Patrick O'Donnell (born 26 January 1963) is an Australian former cricketer, VFL footballer, and horse racing and cricket commentator. He is currently a horse breeder and enabler. He is a former record holder for the fastest One Day Inte ...

hitting a then world record 50 in 18 balls. Pakistan again bowled New Zealand out for less than 100 to go through to the final. During the tournament

Waqar Younis Waqar Younis Maitla HI ( Punjabi, ur, ; born 16 November 1971) is a Pakistani cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer who captained Pakistan national cricket team. A right-arm fast bowler, Waqar Younis is regarded as one of the grea ...

took 4 wickets in an innings three successive times: 4–42, 6–26 and 5–20. Pakistan scored 266–7 in the final and Australia's 10 match winning streak was brought to an end by

Wasim Akram Wasim Akram HI (; born 3 June 1966) is a Pakistani cricket commentator, coach, and former cricketer and captain of the Pakistan national cricket team. Akram is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, and several criti ...

. He ended their innings with a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

. Australia making 230-All Out.

Third edition 1994

:Won by Pakistan The United Arab Emirates (UAE) replaced Bangladesh as the sixth team in the tournament, with the UAE playing their first ever One Day International match. Again there were two groups of three teams. Group A: India, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates Group B: Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. The UAE and Sri Lanka did not make the semis. India defeated Australia in the first semi-final and this time Pakistan scored 328–2 with a then world record stand for the 2nd wicket between

Aamer Sohail Mohammad Aamer Sohail Ali ( ur, ; born 14 September 1966) is a Pakistani cricket commentator and former cricketer. In a playing career that spanned eighteen years, Sohail played in 195 first-class and 261 List A Limited Overs matches, includ ...

(134) and

Inzamam-ul-Haq Inzamam-ul-Haq SI ( ur, ; born 3 March 1970), also known as Inzi, is a former Pakistan cricketer and captain of Pakistan national cricket team. He was also professional cricket coach for Pakistan. He was the leading run scorer for Pakistan i ...

(137 not out) of 263 against New Zealand and won by 62 runs. This set up the final most people wanted: India v Pakistan. Pakistan made 250 for 6

top scoring with 69 and India were bowled all out for 211. Pakistan had a hat-trick of Austral-Asia Cup triumphs.

Demise

Due to the busy international fixture schedule, the Austral-Asia Cup hasn't been contested since 1994.

References

{{reflist

External links

Austral-Asia Cup 1986 Cricinfo scorecards

Austral-Asia Cup 1990 Cricinfo scorecards

Australasia Cup 1994 Cricinfo scorecards
One Day International cricket competitions Cricket in the United Arab Emirates