Monday 29 / September / 2025
Dubai: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chief and the country's Interior Minister, Mohsin Naqvi walked off with the Asia Cup trophy after India refused to accept it from his hands, is claiming that India has disgraced the spirit of the game.
Singed by a resounding defeat at the hands of India the PCB Chief, Mohsin Naqvi whose X account is withheld in India, responded on the microblogging platform to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's congratulatory post after the game.
"If war was your measure of pride, history already records your humiliating defeats at Pakistan's hands. No cricket match can rewrite that truth. Dragging war into sport only exposes desperation and disgraces the very spirit of the game," said Naqvi.
Earlier PM Modi applauded India's famous win saying, "Operation Sindoor on the games field. Outcome is the same - India wins! Congrats to our cricketers."
Even after the final, drama continued to unfold off the field, with the post-match presentation being delayed by 90 minutes. Eventually, the presentation began, and the India players turned up to collect the individual awards.
During the entire ceremony, Naqvi and the Pakistan players were booed by the Indian fans present at the venue. Kuldeep Yadav, Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma received their individual awards from other dignitaries on stage, while Salman accepted the runners-up cheque from PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi. The Indian players did not acknowledge Naqvi.
Simon Doull, the presenter for the host broadcaster towards the end of the ceremony, confirmed that, "I have been informed by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) that the Indian cricket team will not be collecting their awards tonight. So that does conclude the post-match presentation."
Eventually, the speculations cleared up after it was confirmed by the BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia. He disclosed that India had refused to accept the Asia Cup trophy during the presentation ceremony from ACC Chairman Naqvi, who also serves as Pakistan's interior minister.
Naqvi then walked away with his entourage taking away the trophy and the official medals with them.
