Former Pakistani batter Mohammad Yousuf came out strongly in support of Asian Cricket Council President Mohsin Naqvi after the trophy controversy at the Women’s Asia Cup.
For the second year running, the Indian team clinched the title easily but didn’t accept the trophy from Naqvi. When the presentation ceremony started, Harmanpreet Kaur and her squad stayed put in the dressing room, refusing to take the trophy from the current PCB chairman.
This isn’t the first time—last year, after Operation Sindoor and the Pahalgam terror attack, the men’s team did the same. The men’s tournament was already tense, with strong India-Pakistan rivalry, and Naqvi didn’t help matters by posting negative comments about India online.
Naqvi wasn’t around for most of the Women’s Asia Cup final, although cameras caught him in the VIP box during the last over. Presentation got delayed, so the Indian team left without officially winning on stage. On social media, Yousuf praised Naqvi’s handling of the situation and called out India for their attitude. He wrote, “When national pride turns into arrogance, victory brings no reward. A team may win, but a nation without humility remains a loser! No trophy, only heels on heads. #MohsinNaqvi.”
After the trophy standoff, Indian women’s head coach Amol Muzumdar said the team accepted the BCCI’s decision to not take the championship on stage. BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia later added that they’d informed Naqvi of this in advance, even though he still chose to attend the ceremony.
Both Saikia and vice-president Rajeev Shukla were there for the final. On the field, India dominated Sri Lanka by 72 runs to claim their eighth Asia Cup title. In the end, only the Sri Lankan team came out to collect their runners-up medals, as the presentation got delayed by nearly an hour. Once the interviews wrapped up, Naqvi handed the runners-up check to Sri Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu, and that was it—no champion’s trophy awarded.