Asian Test Championship
The ACC Asian Test Championship was a professional Test cricket tournament contested by the Test playing nations of Asia: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It is not a regular event in the cricketing calendar and has so far been held only twice; in 1998–99 when Pakistan won and in 2001–02 with Sri Lanka as champions. It was originally planned that the tournament would be held every two years, alternatively with the Asia Cup.
The countries which took part - Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh | |
| Administrator | Asian Cricket Council |
|---|---|
| Format | Test cricket |
| First edition | 1998-1999 |
| Latest edition | 2001-2002 |
| Tournament format | Round-robin tournament |
| Number of teams | Bangladesh India Pakistan Sri Lanka |
| Current champion | Sri Lanka (1st title) |
| Most successful | Pakistan (1 title) Sri Lanka (1 title) |
The Asian Test Championship is only the second example of a Test cricket tournament involving more than two teams, the first being the 1912 Triangular Tournament, which was held between Australia, England and South Africa. This tournament was considered to be the predecessor to the ICC World Test Championship that the International Cricket Council(ICC) was planning for the 9 member nations.
In 2006, the Asian Cricket Council cancelled the Asian Test Championship, as well as the Asian and African Cup, due to the tightly packed international cricket tour schedule. The third installment of the Championship had been delayed by four years due to conflicting tours of the participating members.