Asian Cricket Council (ACC) chief Mohsin Naqvi, who ‘ran away’ with the Asia Cup trophy in Dubai after India’s decisive win against Pakistan on September 28, has ‘clarified’ his alleged apology to BCCI. Hours after media reports said on Tuesady that the Pakistan’s Interior minister has apologised to BCCI over the Asia Cup trophy fiasco, Naqvi posted on his X handle: “I have done nothing wrong and I have never apologized to the BCCI nor will I ever do so”.
He, however, said that he was “ready” to handover the trophy but added a rider.
“… Let me make it absolutely clear: I have done nothing wrong and I have never apologized to the BCCI nor will I ever do so.This fabricated nonsense is nothing but cheap propaganda, aimed only at misleading their own people. Unfortunately, India continues to drag politics into cricket, damaging the very spirit of the game.
“As ACC President , I was ready to hand over the trophy that very day and I am still ready now. If they truly want it, they are welcome to come to the ACC office and collect it from me,” Naqvi wrote on X.
Naqvi, who is also the ACC President, was adamant about handing over the trophy to the winning Indian team during the post-match presentation, but when India refused to collect the Asia Cup trophy from him, he left the field hush-hush with the trophy and the medals.
The Pakistani minister, who has been widely criticised for his unsporting behaviour on and off the field, has been demanding that Indian skipper Surya Kumar Yadav should collect the trophy from Dubai. The BCCI, however, has reportedly given him a fitting reply at a meeting in Dubai, saying, “he didn’t collect the trophy when you were there in front of him; do you think he will come now?”
The two sides – BCCI and Pakistan’s Naqvi – virtually connected to this meeting to discuss the issue. BCCI was represented by former treasurer Ashish Shelar and vice-president Rajiv Shukla. BCCI reportedly told Naqvi to hand over the trophy and respect his chair, but the ACC chief refused to do so and insisted on the condition that the Indian team should come and collect the trophy. The meeting concluded without any significant outcome. The board members would reportedly meet at a later date to solve the deadlock.
Timeline Of Asia Cup Controversies
Following the Pahalgam attack, the general sentiment in India was to cut all sporting ties with Pakistan, but when the BCCI agreed to play the Asia Cup, it created a massive uproar. Ahead of the India-Pakistan game on September 14, a campaign was run to boycott the match. The game saw a huge controversy as Indian players refused handshakes with their Pakistani counterparts, with Suryakumar Yadav dedicating the win to the armed forces and the victims of the Pahalgam attack. This left Naqvi furious, and he filed a complaint against match referee Andy Pycroft and Suryakumar Yadav for compromising the spirit of sportsmanship.
The teams met again in the Super Four, where Haris Rauf and Pakistan players made provocative 6-0 and jet crash gestures, mocking India over a false claim that they shot down Indian jets during Operation Sindoor. The final was also not short on drama as Naqvi walked away with the trophy, and the Indian team had to celebrate the win without the cup and the winner’s medals.
Suryakumar Yadav had later lashed out at Naqvi for his actions. “This is one thing which I have never seen since I started playing and following cricket. That a champion team is denied to get a trophy, that too a hard-earned one. I feel we deserved it, and I can’t say anything more. My trophies are sitting in my dressing room, all the 14 guys with me, all the support staff, those are the real trophies,” Suryakumar said at the post-match press conference