The Asia Cup trophy, which was not presented to the victorious Indian team after its refusal to accept it from Asian Cricket Council chief Mohsin Naqvi, has been locked away at the ACC’s Dubai headquarters with “instructions that it should not be moved or handed over” without the Chairman’s approval.
The trophy has been at the ACC office after Naqvi walked away with it from the presentation ceremony following the Indian team’s refusal to accept it from him. India beat Pakistan in the Asia Cup final in Dubai on September 28.
Naqvi is also the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman and the Interior Minister of his country and India-Pakistan tensions have hit a peak after the Pahalgam terror attack.
“As of today the trophy is still in ACC offices in Dubai with clear intructions from Naqvi that it should not be moved or handed over to anyone without his approval and in person presence,” a source close to Naqvi told PTI.
“Naqvi has given clear instructions that only he will hand over the trophy in person (whenever that happens) to the Indian team or BCCI,” he added.
The entire Asia Cup was overshadowed by Indo-Pak hostilities. The Indians refused to shake hands with the arch foes throughout the tournament and players from both sides mocked each other with politically charged gestures.
Naqvi too made political statements on his social media pages.
The BCCI took strong exception to his act of walking away with the trophy and vowed to raise the matter in an ICC meeting next month. It is being widely speculated that a strong move to get Naqvi censured and even removed as Director in the ICC could be made.
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“It remains to be seen what will be the long term ramifications for the PCB or Naqvi because the BCCI is clear he (Naqvi) didn’t have any right to insist on handing the trophy himself to the Indian team and refusing to send it to the BCCI who were official hosts of the event,” the source said.
