Cricket: More controversy! India refuse to accept Asia Cup 2025 trophy from PCB chair Mohsin Naqvi
Why India refused to accept Asia Cup trophy
On Sunday, we witnessed one of the fiercest and emotionally charged India vs. Pakistan matchups in recent history, when the two arch-rivals faced off in the final of the 2025 Asia Cup at the Dubai International Stadium.
The match began with India refusing to shake the hands of their opponents for the third time in the competition, and throughout the contest, tensions were evidently high with both sets of players wearing their hearts on their sleeves for their nation.
In the end, India prevailed and confirmed our cricket predictions, beating the Shaheens by five wickets in a thrilling match that hung in the balance for almost the entire duration and went down to the wire, with the Men in Blue getting over the line with just two balls to spare.
After the match, yet another controversy bubbled to the surface, with the presentation ceremony being delayed by almost an hour. It was then revealed that the reason behind the delay was due to the Indian team refusing to receive the trophy from ACC chief Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board.
“We have decided not to take the Asia Cup trophy from the ACC chairman, who happens to be one of the main leaders of Pakistan.”
This was the statement provided by the BCCI after the incident. Naqvi, meanwhile, refused to step down from his role in presenting the trophy to the winners, and after much deliberation, the ceremony went ahead, but India celebrated the triumph without the silverware or medals.
India-Pakistan captains respond to trophy refusal
Following the controversy during the awards ceremony, the captains from both camps were questioned by the media about the incident, and as expected, responses were mixed. India captain Suryakumar Yadav mentioned:
"This is one thing which I have never seen since I have started playing cricket, since I have started following cricket that a champion team is denied to get a trophy. That too a hard-earned one, it's not like we got it easily. It was a hard-earned tournament."
Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha, on the other hand, said: “What India have done this tournament is very disappointing. They're not disrespecting us by not shaking hands, they're disrespecting cricket. Good teams don't do what they did today.”
At the time of writing, the present location of the Asia Cup trophy is still unclear. BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia confirmed on Monday that India are still awaiting their award and hopes that the trophy and player medals will be returned to them as soon as possible.
