ASIA CUP 2025: A PLATFORM TO SETTLE POLITICAL SCORES

A statement on the ACC website had stated on Saturday that Naqvi would hand over the trophy to the Asia Cup winners. However, it is understood that the Indian team did not want to receive the trophy from him...

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Simmering political tensions between India and Pakistan have intensified on the cricket field with the India team refusing to accept the Asia Cup trophy from a senior Pakistani official, having already declined handshakes with their archrival for three consecutive matches. Tilak Varma's nerveless half-century helped India beat arch rivals Pakistan at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday and claim its ninth Asia Cup - second in the T20 format. But it at the post-match presentation ceremony where tensions reached boiling point. The ceremony was first delayed for unclear reasons for over one-and-a-half hours. The Pakistan team, led by captain Salman Agha, then arrived late for the ceremony. However, there was a further delay as the Indian team refused to accept the trophy from Asian Cricket Council (ACC) chief Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the chief of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the Interior Minister of Pakistan. India's Twenty20 skipper Suryakumar Yadav claimed that his team was denied the chance to lift the 2025 Asia Cup trophy.

"This is one thing which I have never seen since I started playing cricket, started following cricket - a champion team is denied a trophy, that too a hard earned one," said Yadav in the post-match media conference. "I feel we deserved it. And I can't say anything more."

"If you tell me about trophies, mine are sitting in the dressing room, all 14 guys with me, the support staff - those are the real trophies throughout this journey in the Asia Cup."