Asia Cup 2025 | Trophy Fiasco: Mohsin Naqvi placed his ego above the game

It was muscle-flexing at its worst with one man’s heightened sense of self-importance marring a grandstand finish to an otherwise unmemorable tournament, cricket-wise.

Dubai: Like the neighbourhood bully who leaves with his bat after being dismissed cheaply in a friendly game, Mohsin Naqvi departed with the Asia Cup trophy, his ego severely dented after India steadfastly refused to accept their hard-earned reward from Pakistan’s interior minister.

The unpleasantness on Sunday night at the end of a near-flawless campaign took some sheen off India’s unprecedented ninth trophy run in the continent’s flagship event.

Naqvi, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), is also the president of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) and insisted that it was his right to hand over the trophy to the Indian captain. Suryakumar Yadav fooled no one when he insisted at the press conference which began well past midnight that it was the team’s call not to receive the trophy from Naqvi.

Clearly, he and his boys were acting on instructions. From whom is anybody’s guess.

Naqvi had flown down from the USA early on Sunday specifically to present the trophy, knowing full well India’s stance throughout the tournament of distancing themselves from Pakistan in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22. He must have been aware that his insistence on being the trophy-giver would raise Indian hackles, but grandstanding is second nature to him.

There is no written rule, or even convention, that the ACC boss must present the silverware. When Sri Lanka lifted the last T20 Asia Cup, also at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, in September 2022, Dasun Shanaka accepted the prize from Shammi Silva, the president of Sri Lanka Cricket. The ACC top man at the time? Jay Shah, currently the chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC).

In unprecedented scenes, the Indian contingent waited patiently on the DICS outfield for more than hour, hoping for a logical resolution of the standoff. Salman Agha’s side, which had beaten a hasty retreat to its dressing room immediately after Rinku Singh’s winning boundary, returned to the ground at 11.25 pm, 55 minutes after the last ball had been bowled. By then, the trophy had been brought to the middle and shooed away indoors, Naqvi deciding that if he wouldn’t be able to present it, no one else could.

The ‘Champions’ banner behind which the winning side poses was also dismissed from the ground.

It was muscle-flexing at its posturing worst with one man’s heightened sense of self-importance marring a grandstand finish to an otherwise unmemorable tournament, cricket-wise.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India have threatened to take up Naqvi’s arrogant conduct at the next ICC board meeting in November. The Indian players, meanwhile, made the best of a bad thing and Suryakumar had the last word when he said his trophies – meaning his colleagues and the support staff – were sitting in his dressing room. Bravo.