Trophy was nowhere to be found, we waited for an hour: Tilak Varma details Team India–Mohsin Naqvi standoff at Asia Cup

Tilak Varma details Team India–Mohsin Naqvi standoff at Asia Cup (BCCI/AP Photos)

Nearly a month has passed and Suryakumar Yadav-led Indian team is yet to receive the Asia Cup 2025 trophy. The trophy reportedly at the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) headquarters in Dubai has been relocated to a different location in Abu Dhabi.

India had won their ninth continental title after defeating Pakistan by five wickets in the summit match at the Dubai International Stadium. Tilak Varma, who played a decisive knock of 69 off 53 balls and was named the Player of the Match in the Asia Cup final, has finally revealed what really transpired behind the scenes on September 28, when India refused to receive the trophy from Naqvi, who is also the head of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and interior minister of the country.

Backchannel discussions between Naqvi and the Indian management led to an hour long delay in the post-match presentation. Naqvi remained firm and didn't allow anyone else to present the trophy, and subsequently India refused to collect the silverware from him.

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Suryakumar eventually recreated the iconic scene from the T20 World Cup last year but this time without a trophy in hand.

“We were actually waiting at the ground for one hour. If you look at the TV visuals, you'll see that I was lying on the ground. The rest were also lying on the ground. Arshdeep Singh was busy making reels. We were just waiting, and we were thinking, ‘The trophy will come anytime now.' It was one hour, and the trophy was nowhere to be found. We were looking around, but the trophy was nowhere to be found,” said Tilak on YouTube show Breakfast with Champions.

“Arshdeep said, let's create an atmosphere. He said we should just celebrate in the same fashion as the T20 World Cup in 2024, minus the trophy. Abhishek Sharma, we, along with 5-6 more people, then gave our nod for the same. Then we went ahead with it,” he added.

The BCCI in an official email to the ACC earlier this week asked Naqvi to hand over the trophy and warned the matter to be escalated to the ICC in case of no response. Naqvi, on the other hand, is resolute about personally handing the trophy.