Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 30: Asian Cricket Council (ACC) chief Mohsin Naqvi is learnt to have agreed to “return” the Asia Cup trophy and winners’ medals to the victorious Indian team, but the condition he is believed to have laid for his “gesture” are certain to be rejected by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) which has lodged a strong complaint with the International Cricket Council (ICC) over the conduct of Mr Naqvi’s, also a political heavy weight in Pakistan.
The BCCI on Tuesday raised “strong objection” in the ACC AGM over India not being presented the winner’s trophy of the Asia Cup but the body’s chairman Mohsin Naqvi remained defiant by “still not agreeing” to it. India were not awarded the trophy on Sunday after their refusal to take the silverware from Naqvi, who is also a minister in the Pakistan government and chairman of the country’s cricket board.
Mr Naqvi had left the global cricketing spectrum stunned by his strange behaviour when he decided to take the Asia Cup 2025 trophy back to his hotel room, following Team India’s refusal to accept it from his hands on Sunday. Naqvi was present at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium for the India vs Pakistan final. He even stepped onto the presentation stage after the Indians beat Pakistan by five wickets, but then left the ceremony and walked out of the stadium after India reiterated their stance of collecting the trophy from a ‘neutral’ official.
It’s been two days since the conclusion of the final, and there’s no concrete update on when and how the trophy and winners’ medals will be delivered to the Indian team, which has already returned home. According to some media reports, Mr Naqvi has set a “condition” to “return” the trophy and medals to the Indian team. The report claimed Mr Naqvi has informed the organisers that the Indian team would receive their medals only if a formal function was arranged, where he would be given the opportunity to hand over the trophy and medals to them.
Considering the political relations between India and Pakistan, it is highly unlikely that such an arrangement would be made. The BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia slammed Naqvi for taking the trophy and medals to his hotel room. “We have decided not to take the trophy from the ACC chairman, who happens to be one of the main leaders of Pakistan. So we will not accept it from him,” he said. He also confirmed that the BCCI has decided to report the matter to the ICC. “That does not mean that the gentleman will take away the trophy with him, along with the medals. It is very unfortunate, very unsporting.
“We hope that the trophy and the medals will be returned to India as soon as possible. This is definitely what we are going to do (protest). There is an ICC conference in the month of November or in the first week of November in Dubai. We are going to launch a very serious and very strong protest against the act of the ACC chairperson,” the BCCI official asserted.
The BCCI vice President Rajeev Shukla and former treasurer Ashish Shelar were the Board representatives in the AGM meeting. The Asia Cup trophy remains in the ACC office and it is still not clear when it will duly reach the members of the winning team. “India raised strong objection in the ACC meeting on Tuesday on not handing over of the trophy and the drama by ACC chairman (Naqvi) during the post-match award event,” ACC sources said.
“Shuklaji categorically said the trophy should be handed over to the winning team. It is an ACC trophy and doesn’t belong to an individual, he said,” the source added. However, the source said Naqvi “still hasn’t agreed to give the trophy.”
Tempers flared at the ACC meeting on Tuesday as the BCCI minced no words in strongly criticising Mr Naqvi’s antics after the final match at the Dubai International Stadium. An insider who was privy to all the happenings within the ACC board meeting confirmed that the BCCI were firm in their demand of having the trophy delivered to them as soon as possible. Mr Naqvi argued that he was “disrespected” and had no prior knowledge about India’s desire not to take the trophy from him.
“When the medals and Asia Cup trophy will be handed over to India, this decision has been deferred as there was no solution found during the ACC meeting. Naqvi argued that he was disrespected and had no prior knowledge of the Indian team’s decision not to receive the trophy from him. He claimed that the BCCI never wrote an email to him about such a situation,” sources said.
“However, Rajeev Shukla, who represented the BCCI in the meeting, argued that the trophy was not a personal belonging of any individual, as it was a property of the ACC and should be handed over to the rightful winner. Since there was no amicable solution, the decision has been deferred to another meeting,” he added.
Internal details from the meeting also suggest that Mr Naqvi went to the extent of saying that he was made to look like a cartoon with all that transpired late Sunday night. Apart from Shukla, the other Indian representative at the ACC meeting was Ashish Shelar, the former treasurer of the BCCI.
Throughout the eight-team tournament, bad blood was evident between the two teams, and it was expected that the events of earlier this year would repeat themselves. A terror attack in Pahalgam resulted in the loss of 26 lives, and this led to India launching Operation Sindoor, targeting terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
No handshakes were seen between the players of both teams throughout the tournament. However, the drama and controversy reached a crescendo after India’s victory in the summit clash as all hell broke loose during the post-match presentation.
The proceedings concluded with the ceremony coming to a premature close, and Naqvi walked away. It must be noted that the trophy was removed from the dais midway through the ceremony as another official escorted the silverware out.
The post-match presentation had started about 90 minutes after the conclusion of the final match as Mr Naqvi remained adamant that only he would hand over the trophy to the winning team and no solution was found. The Indian camp was ready to accept the Asia Cup trophy from Emirates Board vice chairman Khalid Al Zarooni, but it was Naqvi who was determined not to change his stance of wanting to give the silverware away.
In the end, the night concluded with Naqvi walking away from the Dubai Stadium and seemingly taking the Asia Cup trophy to his hotel room. According to protocol, the silverware should currently be at the ACC headquarters, and arrangements should be made to get the trophy delivered to the BCCI office in Mumbai.
