Following in the footsteps of Suryakumar Yadav ‘s team, Harmanpreet Kaur and Co. refused to collect the trophy from the hands of Asian Cricket Council (ACC) chief Mohsin Naqvi, who is also Pakistan’s Interior Minister. Only the runners-up medals were awarded in the trophy presentation ceremony to Sri Lanka as the controversy was repeated. Now, a Pakistan media report has highlighted Naqvi’s stance on the matter.
The Women’s Asia Cup 2026 final concluded on the same lines as the Men’s Asia Cup final last year.
“Our men’s team won the Asia Cup a year and a half ago. 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. And our whole situation, since the April 2025 Pahalgam incident, changed after that.
But our government has a policy that we must play against every country in multinational tournaments,” Saikia said after the Women’s Asia Cup final.
A report has claimed that Mohsin Naqvi, the Asian Cricket Council chief, was keen to hand over the Women’s Asia Cup trophy to the Indian team himself, despite being informed of the BCCI’s decision in advance.
Eventually, the Indian team chose not to receive the trophy from the Pakistani politician, while Sri Lankan captain Chamari Athapaththu accepted the runners-up prize-money cheque as well as the medals. This situation resulted in a delay of around 90 minutes to the post-match presentation ceremony. The report further added that even the Men’s Asia Cup 2025 trophy is available for collection. BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia recalled the 2025 Men’s Asia Cup controversy, which saw the Indian team refuse to accept the trophy from Mohsin Naqvi, in solidarity with the Pahalgam terror attack.
“The trophy is available to the winning Indian team,” the report quoted an ACC source as saying. “Our position has not changed,” the source added. He reportedly also told the Indian board that the trophy could be collected from his office, provided a felicitation ceremony is held, where he would himself do the handover to the Indian team. Saikia said that there was pressure from Indians to end relations with Pakistan, but contractual obligations force the team to play against them in multi-team tournaments.
After removing the trophy from the presentation ceremony last year, Naqvi held multiple rounds of discussions with the BCCI over the controversy.
