From Naqvi’s walkout to Suryakumar’s protest: The untold story of the Asia Cup 2025 final

The Asia Cup 2025 final at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday would be remembered forever. Not just because India won the tournament for a record-extending ninth time , but for all the controversies the final threw up. Taking a strong stance towards Pakistan’s cross-border aggression, India refused to take the trophy from its Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the head of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and Asian Cricket Council (ACC).

India’s peaceful protest ticked off the Pakistani camp as Naqvi ran away with the trophy and Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha went on a rant over spirit of cricket. Unperturbed by controversies, Team India turned the crisis into an opportunity as they celebrated the victory in the final by lifting an imaginary trophy.

So much happened that night you may need a timeline to make sense of it all. That’s exactly what we’ve put together — a full guide to the controversy that erupted after the Asia Cup 2025 final.

Two presenters for one toss

That the final would be highly controversial had become amply clear at the very start when two presenters turned up for the toss . Ravi Shastri to speak to Suryakumar Yadav and Waqar Younis to handle Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha at the toss. India also continued with the no-handshake policy as SKY ignored his Pakistani counterpart at the toss.

The India vs Pakistan Asia Cup 2025 final had its own thrilling moments as Pakistan went from 113/1 to 146 all-out in 19.1 overs after being asked to bat first. Besides opener Sahibzada Farhan (38) and Fakhar Zaman (46), the rest of the batters failed to show in the all-important final.

Bumrah mocks Rauf with plane gesture

The highlight of the first innings was Jasprit Bumrah making the ‘plane crash’ gesture after dismissing Haris Rauf.

However, India faced their own issues as Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill and Suryakumar were dismissed by 2.3 overs before Tilak Varma (69 not out) and Sanju Samson (24) steadied the ship.

Finally, it was Tilak’s 60-run partnership with Shivam Dube (33) that bailed India out in a tense final.

This is where the real drama began.

IND refuse handshakes with PAK players, presentation ceremony delayed

As was the case in the first two matches between India and Pakistan in the tournament, Indian players once again refused to shake hands with their opponents after winning the final.

“What India have done in this tournament is very disappointing. They are not disrespecting us, they are disrespecting cricket,” Salman said at the post-match press conference while criticising the no-handshake policy.

The presentation ceremony was also delayed by an hour, leaving the fans puzzled. The delay was caused by intense negotiations between the ACC and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officials over whether Naqvi, who is also Pakistan’s Interior Minister, should be allowed to hand over the winner’s trophy to India.

BCCI insisted that India do not want to take the trophy from a politician who has been accused of making anti-India comments in the past. The tournament was being played a few months after the Pahalgam attack and BCCI knew that taking the trophy from Naqvi would not be tolerated by Indian fans.

Nonetheless, after an hour’s delay, the presentation ceremony got underway with Naqvi on the stage alongside other ACC officials. The Indian players Tilak Varma and Abhishek Sharma collected ‘Player of the Final’ and the ‘Player of the Tournament’ awards respectively, while the Pakistani players collected the runners-up medals.

Naqvi runs away with Asia Cup trophy

The Pakistan captain, Salman Ali Agha, was also handed over the runner-up medal cheque by Naqvi, which the cricketer was quick to turn back and throw away , expressing his frustration at the loss.

But Indian captain Suryakumar did not turn up on the stage to collect the trophy. The BCCI secretary has revealed that Men In Blue took a conscious call to boycott Naqvi , who hails from a country that is ‘openly waging a war’ against India.

Naqvi waited for a while, but when it became clear that Team India would not be taking the trophy from him, the PCB chief was forced to leave the stadium embarrassed as he took away the trophy and the winners’ medals.

The presentation ceremony also ended prematurely, with presenter Simon Doull annoucning that India will not be collecting the awards.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I have been informed by the Asian Cricket Council that the Indian cricket team will not be collecting their awards tonight,” Doull said. “So that does conclude the post-match presentation.”

India celebrate with imaginary trophy

In the absence of the real trophy, Indian players conducted the trophy ceremony with an imaginary silverware as Suryakumar recreated the iconic Rohit Sharma slow-walk strut.

In the press conference, Suryakumar accused Naqvi of taking away the Asia Cup trophy and the winners’ medals while expressing his disbelief. The Indian captain also announced that he will be donating all his Asia Cup 2025 match fees to the Indian Army.

Meanwhile, BCCI has said that it will lodge protests against Naqvi at ACC and ICC.