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.
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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.
“But that doesn’t mean we will follow every condition laid out for us. Our military conflict is still ongoing. One of the main leaders who is working against the interests of our country; we can’t receive the trophy from him. The Women’s team has expressed solidarity with the decision taken by the men’s team last year.
“It doesn’t diminish the performances of our team. We have won all our matches in a one-sided manner. Women’s cricket has been growing so well in India and there’s no bigger evidence of that than this. Our whole planning is geared towards the 2026 ICC T20 World Cup.”
The Pahalgam terror attack in April 2025 escalated tensions between India and Pakistan, following which India’s men’s team refused to shake hands with their Pakistani counterparts during last year’s Asia Cup and did not accept the trophy from Naqvi. The women’s team later followed suit during the ODI World Cup and in subsequent tournaments.
Saikia also addressed visuals of him speaking with Shukla and Naqvi in the Royal Box in Dubai.
“It’s not as if we wouldn’t meet anyone. I was sitting outside in the Royal Box from the toss until the end of the game. Everyone who came met me during the match; someone sat next to me, then Shukla came and sat with me. The person you mentioned also came and sat alongside Deputy Chairman Khalid (Khalid Al Zarooni) sahib,” Saikia said.
“That’s just a normal tradition — whenever anyone comes, we meet and talk with everyone. We tried to solve today’s situation, but our efforts were not successful. We don’t have any regrets. Our ultimate priority and ambition was not to focus on who would give the trophy. We wanted the Indian team to win and we’ve achieved that.”
“I also got the chance to give the fielding medal that’s given out after every game. The conversation that was had around that was about the Asian Games, not about whether the trophy should be taken or not.”