Pakistan Cricket Board chief Mohsin Naqvi said that he was made to “look like a cartoon” as he stood on the dais, waiting for the Indian team to collect the Asia Cup 2025 trophy.
Naqvi said he wasn't informed of the Indian team's decision not to accept the Asia Cup trophy from him. He arrived on the ceremony podium, hoping to hand over the medals and trophy to Suryakumar Yadav and his team, but was made to look "like a cartoon", as he waited on the stage for their arrival.
Naqvi walked off with the Asia Cup trophy after India refused to accept it from his hands, is now claiming that India has disgraced the spirit of the game.
According to a report in PTI, BCCI's Rajiv Shukla and Ashish Shelar asked Naqvi to keep the trophy in the ACC's Dubai office, from where it can be sent to the Indian team. Naqvi, seemingly walked off the stadium with the title, after the Indian camp refused to accept the silverware from him.
Suryakumar told Indian Express that players didn’t go inside the dressing room and were waiting outside to collect the trophy. According to him, the Indian players waited for nearly an hour after they refused to receive the trophy from Naqvi, who is also his country’s interior minister.
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Devajit Saikia had said on Sunday night after India won the Asia Cup trophy that they cannot "accept a trophy from a person" who represents a country that is "waging a war against our country".
Team India did celebrate their triumph. Posing for the cameras, Suryakumar replicated ex-T20I skipper Rohit Sharma's slow-walk T20 World Cup 2024 winning celebration with the rest of the team, with fireworks going off in the background.
Speaking to ANI from Mumbai, Devajit Saikia said that Team India decided not to take the trophy from Naqvi.
He also condemned Naqvi's act of taking away the trophy and medals with him and said that during the International Cricket Council (ICC) Conference in November, a "serious and strong" protest would be launched against Naqvi.
"We have decided not to take the Asia Cup 2025 trophy from the ACC chairman, who happens to be one of the main leaders of Pakistan. So we decided not to take it from him. 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 unsportsmanlike, and we hope that the trophy and the medals will be returned to India as soon as possible. There is an ICC conference in November in Dubai. In the next conference, we are going to launch a very serious and very strong protest against the act of the ACC chairperson," he said.
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