Former India cricketer Madan Lal has criticized Mohsin Naqvi for his antics during the Asia Cup final. The World Cup champion slammed the head of the Pakistan Cricket Board in an interview with India Today, claiming that Naqvi knows absolutely nothing about sports.
After he ran away with the Asia Cup trophy on Sunday, September 28, Naqvi, who also serves as the head of the Asian Cricket Council, has come under heavy fire from the cricket community.
The ACC chief ordered his officials to remove the medals and trophy from the ground after India refused to take them from Naqvi’s hands. Only someone who knows nothing about the sport would do something like this, according to Madan Lal, who referred to the activities as immature. He went on to say that Naqvi’s foolish games with India had ruined both his and his nation’s prestige.
“All these things should not have happened. When players lift that trophy in front of the fans, or on live TV, that is when it looks good,” Madan Lal told India Today in an interview.
“Mohsin Naqvi has no knowledge of the sport. How a sport should be played, how one should behave. There were so many people from the Indian team who were standing on the dais afterwards. He should have told someone else to give the trophy to the Indian team. The PCB chief has destroyed his and his country’s reputation,” he added.
His criticism of Naqvi was not unique. Shahid Afridi, a former Pakistani player, too criticized Naqvi for not performing up to par during the Asia Cup. Reiterating his position that it was impossible to balance the duties of a top cricket administrator and his position as Pakistan’s Interior Minister, Afridi called on Mohsin Naqvi to resign as PCB chairman, emphasizing that the sport needs his undivided attention in times of crisis.
Naqvi’s insistence that India skipper Suryakumar Yadav travel to Dubai to pick up the trophy himself was also questioned by Madan Lal.
“Why should Suryakumar Yadav go to the Asian Cricket Council office to collect the trophy? India won, you should have let them celebrate with the trophy on the ground. But of course, he does not have any knowledge, in their country everything is decided by the armed forces,” Madan Lal concluded.
At the upcoming ICC conference, India is anticipated to file an official protest against the ACC chief.