Drama continues in the Asia Cup trophy fiasco as the Test-playing nations of the continent will soon hold a meeting to take a final call over the silverware and the winners’ medals that were not presented to the Indian cricket team at the Dubai International Stadium after they defeated Pakistan in the final on Sunday. India refused to take the trophy from Asian Cricket Council (ACC) president Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the head of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and an Interior Minister in his country.
Naqvi has often been seen making anti-India remarks and faced an unprecedented protest by Suryakumar Yadav and his players after the Asia Cup 2025 final, which India won by five wickets against Pakistan. After facing such humiliation, Naqvi stormed out of the stadium and took the trophy and medals along with him.
An ACC meeting was held on 30 September (Tuesday) virtually, where the matter was discussed among the board members. While Naqvi complained about being made to look like a “cartoon” on the stage, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) representatives, vice-president Rajeev Shukla and former treasurer Ashish Shelar, confronted the Pakistani administrator and forced him to congratulate India.
ACC to hold new meeting to end Asia Cup trophy controversy
The ACC meeting was an extension of the incomplete Annual General Meeting (AGM), which took place on 24 July in Dhaka. The main agenda of the meeting was to elect the new ACC vice-president and finalise the schedule for emerging players and under-19 ACC tournaments. However, the BCCI insisted on discussing the Asia Cup trophy fiasco.
Naqvi reportedly refused to entertain the topic during the ACC meeting but faced some sharp criticism from BCCI representatives, who insisted on sticking to the trophy controversy and also threatened a complaint against the PCB chief with the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThings heated up to such an extent that an angry Shelar reportedly logged out of the meeting in the middle before rejoining the proceedings. However, they managed to make Naqvi reluctantly congratulate Team India after he initially only chose to congratulate Mongolia (new member) and Nepal (for their series win over West Indies). But the final decision on the matter has been deferred.
A new offline meeting will now take place among the representatives of the Test-playing nations in Asia. The representatives of BCCI, PCB, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) will soon meet to take a final call on how to amicably end the Asia Cup trophy controversy.
Naqvi has been insisting that India captain Suryakumar Yadav must visit the ACC office and collect the trophy from him, but the BCCI is certain to ensure that it doesn’t end like this.