India refuses to accept Asia Cup trophy from Pakistan minister, sparks row

India’s Asia Cup–winning team refused to accept the winner’s trophy from ACC chief and Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi after defeating Pakistan in Dubai. Captain Suryakumar Yadav said the team’s real trophies were his players, as BCCI vowed protest.

HYDERABAD: There was more action off the field after Tilak Varma fashioned a famous win for India in the final of the Asia Cup against Pakistan Dubai late on Sunday night with the Indian team refusing to collect the winner’s trophy from Moshin Naqvi, chairman of the Asian Cricket Council and who is also the Pakistan’s Interior Minister and chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board.

In a tournament which has seen the Indian players avoiding even the customary handshakes with the arch-rivals Pakistan players, there has been a serious debate on that count.

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Significantly, in a symbolic gesture which should go a long way in conveying India’s stand when it comes to relations with nations having a history of sponsoring terrorism, Surya Kumar the victorious Indian captain, dedicated India’s first win over Pakistan in the tournament on September 14 to the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack and the Indian Army. And, he also announced that he was donating his match fee from the Asia Cup to the Armed Forces.

And, India, perhaps, justifiably, refused to collect the trophy, clearly sending a strong message from a sports arena that it has a no-nonsense approach with Pakistan on all fronts.

Well, the Indian captain said that he had never seen a champion team being denied the trophy. This is because the ACC chief refused to hand over the trophy once it was made clear to him that India refused to receive it from him.

“This is one thing which I have never seen since I started playing and following cricket. That a champion team is denied a trophy, that too a hard-earned one,” Surya Kumar said.

“I feel we deserved it, and I can’t say anything more. My trophies are sitting in my dressing room, all the 14 guys with me, all the support staff, those are the real trophies,” Suryakumar said.

Even former India coach and tv commentator Ravi Shastri seemed apparently peeved at the inordinate delay in the prize distribution during the post-match analysis on tv constantly referring to the “ridiculous” delay in the prize distribution.

A Pakistani journalist was even snubbed politely at the post-match briefing when he said that Surya Kumar was mixing politics with sports. “Gussa ho rahe ho aap (you are getting angry),” he retorted.

Interestingly, the jubilant India captain revealed that the team management took the call not to take the trophy from the ACC chief on the ground and didn’t have any instructions!

BCCI Secretary responds

Meanwhile, in a related development, the BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia informed ‘ANI’ that they had decided not to take the Asia Cup trophy from the ACC chairman, who happens to be one of the main leaders of Pakistan.

“But that does not mean that the gentleman will take away the trophy with him, along with the medals. So, it is very unfortunate and we hope that the trophy and the medals will be returned to India as soon as possible,” he said.

“There is an ICC conference in November in Dubai and we are going to launch a very serious and very strong protest against the act of the ACC chairperson,” the BCCI Secretary said.