As far as Sri Lanka are concerned, they are defending champions at this year's Asia Cup . The case they are making is that the ODI version of the Asia Cup - which India last won in 2023 - is a different tournament entirely.

The tournament alternates between the two white-ball formats based on which World Cup is around the corner. In 2023, it was the 50-over World Cup. In 2025, it is the T20 World Cup. And as far as the T20I version of the Asia Cup goes, Sri Lanka are the most-recent victors, having taken the title in 2022 .

"Mentally, the fact that we are defending champions is a really good thing," Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka said ahead of his team's first Asia Cup game, against Bangladesh on Saturday. "It was a lot of these players that played in that last tournament

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