Lessons to be learned for cricket's Asia Cup

Ahead of today's Asia Cup final between India and Sri Lanka, Dileep Premachandran examines the tournament's significance.

The Asia Cup never became a centrepiece of the cricketing calendar as its founders might have envisaged when the event was first played at Sharjah in 1984. It did not help either that the competition never grew as some might have hoped. This year's tournament was never likely to be anything more than a blip on the sporting radar, scheduled as it was slap-bang in the middle of the football World Cup.

Football's European Championships started off with just four teams in 1960, and has since grown to become second only to the World Cup in terms of prestige. The Asia Cup started with three sides and has seldom embraced more than four. When it was expanded in 2004 and 2008, with the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong taking part, it only served to flatter the batting and bowling averages of players from the established sides.

Bangladesh, the fourth of the teams to enjoy Test status, have won just two of the 29 games they have played at the Asia Cup. Pakistan have won it just once, at Dhaka in 2000, and crashed out early again after Harbhajan Singh's heave over mid-wicket in Dambulla. India and Sri Lanka will be looking to become the first team to win it five times when they clash in the final later today. On the surface, it may be yet another nondescript tournament in an itinerary where one event seems to segue into the next. But with the World Cup just eight months away, the Asia Cup has given each of the teams some valuable pointers for the road ahead.

Whether they win or lose, the bowling will continue to be a massive headache for India. Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra have not been at their sharpest, while Praveen Kumar offers little once batsmen see off the early swing and work out his changes of pace. With the new ball usually doing little damage, Harbhajan becomes the tourniquet rather than partnership-breaker, and the spin support cast does not yet have the quality to bamboozle quality opposition.

At full strength, with Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag at the top of the order, the batting strength can be intimidating but when you take those two out, the fear factor disappears. It may have been a match with nothing at stake, but the way in which Sri Lanka's Farveez Maharoof scythed through the middle and lower order a couple of days ago would have kept the India coach Gary Kirsten's notebook and pen extremely busy.

Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have shone intermittently in recent times, but with the two regular openers missing and Yuvraj Singh out of favour, they need to show that they can play authoritative innings with a trophy at stake. Sri Lanka can afford to be far more cheerful. Even with Muttiah Muralitharan rested and Sanath Jayasuriya dumped, there is a pleasing balance to the line-up. While India would give anything for one quality all-rounder following Irfan Pathan's descent into anonymity, they have two in Angelo Mathews and Maharoof.

Mathews, in particular, has been outstanding in recent times. Maharoof, sidelined by injuries and allegedly poor attitude since February 2008, took a hat-trick against India and may yet start the final on the bench. The batting still rides on Tillakaratne Dilshan's opening flourishes and the solidity and class of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. But in the reformed Thilina Kandamby and the promising Dinesh Chandimal, they have two others who can flourish on the type of placid pitches the World Cup is likely to be played on. Chamara Kapugedera hits the ball hard and long, while Suraj Randiv is apprentice to Murali.

They also have Lasith Malinga's slingshot yorkers, a potent attacking weapon that India have lacked in recent times. The story of this tournament could have been very different had Malinga not snuffed out Pakistan's challenge with a wonderful final spell in the opening game. He brings that indefinable X-factor, and with India missing theirs, it should be Sri Lanka that hone their World Cup preparations as kings of the continent.