And as it has happened, despite all the crises in and out of cricket, Sri Lanka has been crowned the Champions of Asia.
Almost nobody counted them as favourites, but they beat every team but Hong Kong in the tournament and reigned supreme, providing a statement of the new brand of cricket they are playing.
While Sri Lanka have succeeded in doing so, all the other teams have left the tournament scratching their heads, with only a month or so remaining for the T20 World Cup in Australia.
With the tournament now done and dusted, here are the biggest outcomes from the mega-event.
Sri Lanka are good, in fact, very good
Sri Lanka came into the tournament as severe underdogs. They had been trying out their all-attack approach since Chris Silverwood, the bowling coach of the 2019 World Cup-winning England side, took charge.
But still, their ability was questioned, and almost nobody saw them as a title contender, especially after their defeat to Afghanistan in their tournament's opening match.
But after beating Bangladesh, with a lot of help from the Tigers on the field, they just went up, and their squad is perfect for T20Is.
Kushal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka at the top give quality starts, and then the middle order of Charith Asalanka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, and Danushka Gunathilaka provides both flair and flamboyance. And after that, skipper Dasun Shanaka and Wanindu Hasaranga provide the final spark.
Sri Lanka's pace bowling had been a concern, but they have Dushmantha Chameera coming back, and Chamika Karunaratne, Dilshan Madushanka, and Pramod Madushan proved that they are capable.
And along that, they have Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana providing quality spin options who can bowl at any point of an innings.
All-in-all, Sri Lanka have a squad to fight in the T20 World Cup. And if they can continue the brand they have displayed in the Asia Cup, they can hope for something good in Australia.
Pakistan's strength is their weakness
For long, Pakistan's opening pair of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan has been claimed as their biggest strength. In ODIs, maybe.
But in T20Is? No. Rather, they are match losers in the shortest format. And it was visible in the final of the Asia Cup.
Rizwan played 49 balls to score 55 in a match where they were chasing 171. That innings ensured that they played all 20 overs, but only that as it took away all their chances of winning.
Babar had a tournament to forget, but despite Rizwan finishing as the highest run-scorer, he drowned them with his low strike rate and lack of innovativeness.
Also, their middle order is a mess. Neither Iftikhar Ahmed nor Khushdil Shah is good enough to score regularly at a decent rate, and they need better players there.
They will have Shaheen Shah Afridi back for the World Cup, and that might be a big boost to their already performing pace attack, but they have a lot of dust to clear in the batting order.
India need to pick and choose, quickly
India had a great squad and were the title favourites, but ended up losing out in the Super 4 because of two things - their top-order and over-relying on matchups.
First things first, a top-three of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Virat Kohli will not win team trophies. All three take time to settle in before firing at all cylinders, and there's not enough time in the format for all three to do so. So if India want anything good from the T20 World Cup, they will need to make a difficult decision and drop one of the three.
Second, their reliance on left vs right matchups. After Ravindra Jadeja got injured, they put in Rishabh Pant and benched the in-form Dinesh Karthik to have a left-handed batsman in the XI. Then, against Sri Lanka, they went on to drop Ravi Bishnoi, who bowled superbly in the previous match, because they wanted an off-spinner against the leftie-dependent Sri Lankan middle-order.
Matchups are an essential part of the modern game, but India overdid it in the tournament and suffered. They don't have Jadeja in the World Cup too, and will only hope not to make the same mistakes again.
Bangladesh are still learning
Bangladesh were knocked out of the group stage. They have nothing to show from the tournament and are still scratching their heads for a formula to find results in the World Cup.
First of all, they will need a good opening pair. While Mehidy Hasan Miraz played a great inning against Sri Lanka as a makeshift opener, he is definitely not the permanent solution. The likely candidates have been rumoured to be Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, and Parvez Hossain Emon, and Bangladesh fans would hope that it is true.
The good news for them is that they will not have Mushfiqur Rahim in their lineup; for now, Mahmudullah Riyad is unlikely too. In their place, Yasir Ali Chowdhury and Nurul Hasan Sohan are the likely picks, and both are definitely upgrades considering the format.
Their other concern is the bowling attack, as Mustafizur Rahman has continuously struggled in the recent past, leaving the Tigers without a proper death bowler.
They can look for an option in the youngster Mrittunjoy Chowdhury, but taking an inexperienced pacer to the World Cup is a risky call, even for the Bangladesh Cricket Board.
Are Afghanistan not unplayable?
Afghanistan came to the Asia Cup as the dark horses but ended up last in the Super 4.
Their bowling attack consists of three top-class spinners, but it becomes easier if teams can deal with them smartly.
And because of their batting lineup, big targets are difficult for them to chase as they lack experience despite the available quality.
Inexperience is also a big problem for their pace-bowling unit as they have struggled regularly at the death.
And with the World Cup in Australia, they will need their pacers as the spinners will not be as effective as they have been in Asia.
They still have a dangerous bowling lineup in T20Is, but after four years of it, things have become too one-dimensional for them, and they need a new perspective.
