Asia Cup 2025: More controversies than contest? Have a look

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The Asia Cup 2025 was intended to be a showpiece event for the subcontinent, but has turned out to be more productive of controversies.

The Asia Cup is a tournament that is meant to be a grand event for the subcontinent- that is tied with cricketing culture. But the 2025 edition (currently being held in Dubai), has had its share of controversies and has given rise to a particular question: is this the worst edition of the Asia Cup ever held?

Fans earlier used to be on the edge of their seats during the drama in the IPL or the BBL, and are now labelling the Asia Cup 2025 as the "poor cousin". The main names in this competition are India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan- but the tournament feels underwhelming.

Majority of the matches in the Asia Cup 2025 are ending up in one-sided clashes, even a team like Bangladesh have struggled in the tournament- as they lost to India by 41 runs in the Super four stage.

The Asia Cup 2025 has not been behind in controversies as well. Indian side refusing to shake hands with the Pakistan side, Sahibzada Farhan making a gun-firing action. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) even filed complaints to the ICC.

The Asia Cup is known to have mismatches-associate nations against full members being blown away. However, since fans are used to let's say the IPL- a high intensity tournament where margin or error is small- a 40-run victory or a below 130 or 140-run target seems unimpressive.