Familiar scenes unfolded in Dubai after India’s record eighth Women’s Asia Cup title win. The presentation ceremony was delayed, the Indian team refused to take the trophy from Asian Cricket Council (ACC) chief Mohsin Naqvi — who is also the PCB chief and Pakistan’s interior minister — and Naqvi was left waiting on the podium before abruptly leaving the venue.
Almost the exact same sequence had unfolded when India’s men, led by Suryakumar Yadav, won the Asia Cup at the same venue last September. On Sunday, Harmanpreet Kaur’s side beat Sri Lanka by 72 runs to lift the women’s title.
The presentation ceremony was delayed by almost an hour. Naqvi presented the runners-up cheque to Sri Lanka, while India conducted its own medal presentation on the sidelines in the presence of BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia and vice-president Rajeev Shukla.
Naqvi left the stadium immediately after presenting the award to Sri Lankan captain Chamari Athapaththu. Unlike last year, however, he did not leave with the trophy.
Saikia later explained that India’s decision not to accept the trophy was intended to show solidarity with the men’s team’s stance from last year.
“Our men’s team won the Asia Cup a year and a half ago. And our whole situation, since the April 2025 Pahalgam incident, changed after that. So, after that, there was pressure on us from our citizens that we shouldn’t keep any relations with our neighbouring country and not play cricket with them. But our government has a policy that we must play against every country in multinational tournaments…” Saikia told IANS after the match, as quoted by Sportstar.
