Planes and guns to presentation ceremony fiasco: Dramas Pakistan and Mohsin Naqvi pulled at Asia Cup 2025

Asia Cup 2025: Tournament of controversies sees Pakistan miss final flight (Photo- AFP)

As the curtain fell on yet another Indian Asian Cup win, Pakistan were left to reflect on an incredible mid-match meltdown, from 113-1 to 146 all out. But for once, events off the field overshadowed their problems on it. From start to finish, this was a tournament of misfires, especially when facing India.

Boycotting post-match presentation

Piqued by Suryakumar Yadav refusing to shake hands at the toss, and India giving the post-game handshakes a miss, Salman Agha didn’t come out for the presentation after the group stage game between the sides. It was hardly a boycott though, given that Shaheen Afridi came to collect an individual award.

Complaints galore

Match referee Andy Pycroft (ICC Photo)

First, it was Andy Pycroft. Pakistan accused him of favouring India in the handshake controversy, even writing to the ICC to have him replaced as Match Referee. Later, there were complaints against Ruchira Palliyaguruge, the Sri Lankan TV umpire, for giving Fakhar Zaman out caught behind without seeing replays from multiple angles. That the one angle showed he was cleanly caught by Sanju Samson skipped their notice.

Match delay

So far did Pakistan take the brinkmanship over Pycroft that the players were asked to return to their hotel ahead of the game against the UAE. That eventually started an hour late, with Mohsin Naqvi, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief, presumably having forgotten that he heads the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), hosts of the tournament.

Planes and guns

Haris Rauf makes provocative gestures towards Indian fans

During their Super Four defeat to India, two Pakistani players came under the scanner for provocative gestures. After reaching his half-century, Sahibzada Farhan made his bat into a machine-gun, albeit with the barrel pointed at his own chest. Later, Haris Rauf showed six fingers to heckling Indian fans and mimicked planes crashing, apparently in reference to Pakistani propaganda about having shot down six Indian Air Force planes.

Final presentation fiasco

India refused to accept the silverware from Mohsin Naqvi.

Naqvi had stirred the pot for days, posting a Cristiano Ronaldo plane celebration on his personal X account twice – apparently in support of Haris, who was fined 30 per cent of his match fee for the gesture – but the worst was yet to come. After India won the final, the presentation was delayed for over an hour, with no sign of the Pakistani players on the outfield and no clarity on who would hand the trophy over. Eventually, though Kuldeep Yadav and Abhishek Sharma collected individual trophies, the ceremony wrapped up without India’s players collecting their winners’ medals.

While engineering all this drama, perhaps Naqvi forgot who pays the bills. The ACC hands out over $15m a year to each of the Test-playing nations. For India, that’s pocket change. Pakistan cricket might sink without it.