India to move ICC over Asia Cup trophy 'denial'

India's ninth Asia Cup triumph in a last-over thriller over Pakistan was overshadowed by a fraught post-match ceremony on Monday that saw the champions refuse to receive the trophy from the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) chief, prompting him to walk off with the silverware and triggering the bizarre spectacle of the winners celebrating without their rightful crown.

- Rasesh Mandani

The unprecedented controversy which also triggered a political controversy back home - brought the curtain down on a tense tournament that saw off-field hostilities in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack envelop all three India-Pakistan clashes, including a refusal to shake hands, heated words, and gestures mimicking crashed planes.

"I think this is one thing which I have never seen since I started playing and following cricket that a champion team is denied a trophy. I mean that too a hard-earned one. It's not like it happened easily. It was a hard-earned tournament win," said skipper Suryakumar Yadav, reflecting on how it felt being denied the biggest prize after winning seven consecutive games at the continental showpiece.

The bilateral animosity carried into the final, which India won by five wickets in a nailbiter that saw the momentum of the low-scoring match swing wildly over to over. After Rinku Singh hit the winning runs at 12.02am, scenes of jubilation at the Dubai International Stadium quickly gave way to simmering tensions as the clock ticked by with no post-match presentation ceremony.

India had made it clear that they would not receive the trophy from Mohsin Naqvi, ACC chief and the sitting interior minister of Pakistan, who had caused controversy with anti-India comments earlier and had posted cryptic videos of Cristiano Ronaldo's plane crash goal celebration, alluding to Pakistani claims that Indian jets were downed during Operation Sindoor.

The presentation finally got underway at around 1.20am even as Naqvi refused to budge from the podium and the Indians waited patiently around 25 yards away.