India’s commanding 72-run victory over Sri Lanka in the Women’s Asia Cup final in Dubai ended in familiar diplomatic tension after the Indian team refused to collect the trophy from Asian Cricket Council (ACC) president and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Mohsin Naqvi on Sunday night, September 13.
“Our men’s team won the Asia Cup a year and a half [a year] ago. However, Harmanpreet Kaur-led Indian side skipped the official presentation. After sealing their record eighth Women’s Asia Cup title, Harmanpreet Kaur’s side celebrated on the outfield and completed their internal awards – including the team fielding medal presented by BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia and BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla. Speaking to media after the incident, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia backed the Indian women’s team’s stance against accepting the Women’s Asia Cup trophy from Mohsin Naqvi and outlined the reasons behind India’s refusal. So after that there was pressure on us from our citizens that we shouldn’t keep any relations with our neighboring country and not play cricket with them. But our government has a policy that we must play against every country in multinational tournaments. So we are following that policy and abiding by that, the BCCI sends a squad to play every team.
Batting first, India posted 183/5, powered by a 129-run opening stand from Shafali Verma (68 off 39) and Smriti Mandhana (59). In reply, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 111, with Shree Charani taking 4/20. With this dominant win, India claimed a record-extending eighth Asia Cup title, avenging their 2024 final loss to the same opposition. Following the standoff, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia clarified the board’s decision, citing national interest, ongoing geopolitical tensions, and solidarity with the Indian men’s team, which had also refused to take trophy from Naqvi, who is also Pakistan’s interior minister, after winning the men’s Asia Cup 2025 final at the same venue. And our whole situation since the Pahalgam incident in April 2025 changed after that. After their dominant win in Asia Cup 2026 final, the Indian women’s cricket team will now shift focus to upcoming Asian Games fixtures in Japan.
But that doesn’t mean we will play and follow every condition laid out for us,” Saikia told IANS hours after the Women’s Asia Cup final.
