Sri Lanka - even before the tournament started, the home team came in on a high: semi-finalists at the Twenty20 World Cup, broke new ground by playing the first international Twenty20 in the United States, and won the Micromax Cup in Zimbabwe. The exclusion of Sanath Jayasuria and Ajantha Mendis raised eyebrows, but Tillekeratne Dilshan returning to form was hard to argue with. No big scores were on offer from him, but his quick starts helped chase down a stiff target from Pakistan, and an easy one in the first game against India. Farveez Maharoof's hat-trick and five-for in that first game made him the best bowler in Sri Lanka for all of one game, being reduced to very ordinary status in the final against India. The fielding, which is usually one of Sri Lanka's strengths, also failed, and the latest chapter of the endless saga of Sri Lanka-India games ended with an Indian victory.
India - tired as though they must be of facing Sri Lanka, India now know they go to their Test series against Sri Lanka (who else?) as the Asian champions - but more importantly, continuing their reversal of the trend of choking in major tournament finals. After disappointing performances in the World Twenty20 and the Micromax Cup, India finally have a trophy in their cabinet. Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar weren't greatly missed, as the new crop of Indian players - Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik and Murali Vijay - showed they had what it took to set and chase totals. India's pace bowling attack has been a cause for concern, but Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra (who dismissed four Sri Lankan batsmen in the final) made their claims to inherit the thrones vacated by Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad.
So after fifteen years, India finally get their hands back on the Asia Cup, while Sri Lanka have to content themselves with being pipped at the post yet again. They will lock horns again soon enough, and Pakistan and Bangladesh head to England for their respective series. Considering all the attention the FIFA World Cup is inevitably getting, would it have killed the International Cricket Council to have done more to promote the 2010 Asia Cup amidst a glut of other, unremarkable tournaments? Or did they figure that it would be a lost battle, and are saving their pennies for the 2011 World Cup? Either way, we have Pakistan to thank for two riveting games of cricket, while Bangladesh bored us with their surrender. India and Sri Lanka shared a victory over each other, Farveez Maharoof's hat-trick providing some spice to a dead rubber. But as it turned out, India won the game that mattered.