Asia Cup Points Table

Two points for a win and none for a defeat. A tie or a match abandoned without a result gives one point to each side. Teams are ranked on their points total within their own group, and then again within the Super Four, which is scored as a separate table.

The second group stage. The top two teams from each of the two opening groups advance into a single four-team pool, and each side plays the other three once. The two teams finishing first and second in that Super Four table go through to the final. There is no semi-final.

No. Every qualifier starts the Super Four on zero, so a team that came through its group unbeaten begins level with one that scraped in second. That makes the Super Four something close to a second tournament, and it is why a strong opening round guarantees a side nothing once the next stage begins.

It alternates. Since 2016 the tournament has been staged in whichever format the next World Cup will use, so it works as a rehearsal for the global event. That has meant Twenty20 in some editions and 50-over cricket in others, and the format is confirmed by the Asian Cricket Council ahead of each edition.

Net run rate. It compares the rate a side has scored at with the rate it has conceded at across the stage in question. Group stages here are short, often just three matches, so net run rate decides qualification more often in this tournament than in a long franchise league.

The five full members of the Asian Cricket Council enter automatically. The rest of the field comes through the ACC Premier Cup, a separate qualifying tournament for the region’s associate nations, which is how sides outside the traditional five have taken their place in recent editions.

Roughly every two years rather than annually, and the schedule has shifted more than once around global tournaments and hosting arrangements. Because it is tied to the World Cup cycle, the gap between editions is not fixed, and dates are confirmed by the Asian Cricket Council for each edition.