In 1990-91, the Asia Cup was played in India for the first time. According to the political equations then, Pakistan did not send a team, and the tournament was reduced to an uninteresting formality. Was there a silver lining? Probably, because of the participation, for the first time in the Asia Cup, of a player who went by the name of Sachin Tendulkar. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were the teams vying to take the trophy away from India's grasp.

Since Bangladesh, even after having played three Asia Cups, was not a team to trouble the other two in the fray, the only interesting match was the finals. As in the previous edition of the tournament, Sri Lanka failed to win the most important of the matches, as they lost to the Indians who were helped by a surprisingly patient 53 by the 17 year-old Sachin Tendulkar, a typically dogged 75 by Sanjay Manjrekar and an aggressive 54 by Mohammed Azharuddin.

The Lankans had beaten India by 36 runs in the league match, which hardly mattered as Bangladesh were hammered comfortably by both the finalists.