Follow UsThe act of Asian Cricket Council (ACC) chair and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Mohsin Naqvi running away with the Asia Cup 2025 trophy after India refused to take the trophy and medals from him, was discussed at length in the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of ACC in Dubai on September 29 (Monday).
The Vice-president 0f the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Rajeev Shukla and former treasurer Ashish Shelar, who were the board’s representatives at the meeting, cornered Naqvi for his act.
“When he was asked to return the trophy and medals won by India, Naqvi said that the Indian captain, Suryakumar Yadav, could collect them from him at the ACC office in Dubai. However, he was told that the BCCI's stance was very clear: the Indian captain would not take the trophy from Naqvi,” Times of India (TOI) quoted a source as saying.
“The matter has been deferred and will now be dealt with between Naqvi and the BCCI, with a mediator in between,” the source added, saying that it was due to the intervention of Aminul Islam Bulbul, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President in the matter.
If the trophy and medals are not respectfully given to India, BCCI will lodge a complaint with the ICC in the matter, the source revealed. The basis of the complaint would be the precedence of the Asia Cup 2022 when ACC chair Jay Shah did not award the trophy to winning team Sri Lanka, and instead, it was given by Sri Lanka Cricket Chair Shammi Silva.
“Naqvi was under the impression that being the ACC president, only he could present the trophy on the stage. However, the BCCI representatives told him that there was no such mandate. They cited that in 2022, it was Sri Lanka Cricket president, Shammi Silva, who presented the trophy to the then Asia Cup champions Sri Lanka, and not Jay Shah, who was then the ACC chairman”
“No country attending the AGM supported Naqvi's actions. In fact, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka supported India’s stance,” the source added.
It would be interesting to note that it was the first time that a winning team did not get their medals and trophy after an event.