Boycotting Asia Cup presentation, not taking trophy 'will haunt India': Shoaib Malik

Shoaib Malik has criticised Team India for not taking the Asia Cup trophy from Asian Cricket Council (ACC) president Mohsin Naqvi after defeating Pakistan in the final on Sunday. Naqvi is also the Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the country’s interior minister.

The Indian team refused to receive the trophy from Naqvi, who later took it with him. Malik said the decision to not receive the trophy will “haunt” the Indian team.

“Just see how much pressure the players went through to win the Asia Cup. How much heat there was that they played in. They worked so hard. Why did they do all that hard work? To win the Asia Cup trophy, to win the tournament! And after they’ve worked so hard, you don’t even come to take the trophy,” Malik was quoted as saying by the Indian Express.

“It was such a big achievement, and that too after such a close match. It’s a massive moment. Look, today, they might be celebrating this thing like this. But down the line, after a few years, this will haunt them. They’ll think: ‘We won the trophy, we worked hard’. They are athletes and sportsmen. A sportsman’s job is to come to the ground, give your best shot, and that’s it,” he added.

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India maintained the cold stance on Pakistan in a tournament, which was filled with political messaging. It all began during the group stage encounter between the two as Suryakumar Yadav refused to engage in any customary rituals both pre and post match.

He then dedicated the win to the Indian Armed Forces and expressed solidarity with the families of the victims of Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed the lives of 26 tourists in April this year.

This led to massive controversy as Pakistan even threatened to pull out from the tournament and their players resorted to provocative gestures during the Super Four tie. India won both the clashes convincingly.

The final also saw India refuse from exchanging in any customary activities that generally occurs in the final of a multi-nation tournament and then refused to take the trophy from Naqvi, who has so far kept an anti-India stance, considering his recent statements and social media posts.