New Delhi: Following in the footsteps of the Indian men’s Asia Cup winners last year, the Indian Women’s Asia Cup winners Sunday snubbed Pakistani minister Mohsin Naqvi during the post-match presentation. Naqvi, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board and currently heading the Asian Cricket Council, was supposed to hand over the trophy to the winning Indian women’s team, but the players refused to take the trophy from him. Curiously, some Pakistanis praised the Indian team’s gesture.
“As a Pakistani, Well done indian team Mohsin Naqvi is not even suitable to give prizes or trophy to others,” one user on Instagram posted.
“Even Pakistan team shouldn’t take trophy from him, if they ever win. Man has no merit,” said another user named Pakistani.highlights.
The Indian team beat Sri Lanka by 72 runs in Dubai to win the Asia Cup, but the team was left without the championship trophy. Naqvi arrived at the Dubai International Stadium minutes before the final ball was bowled and insisted on personally presenting the winners’ trophy, Cricbuzz reported.
The Indian side did not accept the arrangement, much like the men’s team had refused to take the trophy from Naqvi on 28 September last year. After a brief and delayed presentation ceremony, the event concluded without India receiving the trophy.
According to reports, the Indian team reportedly maintained that ACC vice-president Khalid Al Zarooni could present the trophy. Naqvi, however, refused to relent.
He then went up to the podium and presented the runners-up cheque to the Sri Lankan team. BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia and vice-president Rajeev Shukla were present at the stadium but chose not to join Naqvi on the stage. Instead, they remained with the Indian players on the ground.
Pakistani sports and cricket commentators are angry with what they call the unnecessary politicisation of cricket.
“Mohsin Naqvi was on that stage as the ACC President not as PCB Chairman, not as a Pakistani government official, and certainly not there to represent Pakistan’s politics.If you cannot distinguish between a sports governing body and regional politics, then perhaps the problem is with your approach towards sports,” sports journalist Faizan Lakhani wrote on X.
“You cannot keep dragging politics into cricket and then lecture others about the sanctity of the game,” he added.
“Cricket can survive losses on the field. It cannot survive this hostility. Let us be honest about what is happening. Politically driven Indian teams are hurting the global game and destroying its ethics,” former Pakistani wicketkeeper Rashid Latif said.
Pakistani social media users, however, were quite clear about whom to blame.
“Refusing to take the trophy from Mohsin Naqvi is a completely justified stance because an administrator who has single-handedly dismantled cricket infrastructure has no moral right to hand out honors to world-class athletes. Naqvi’s tenure has been a disaster, defined by politicized governance, erratic mid-tour squad purges, constant coaching overhauls, and insulting dismissals of legendary players who built the game. A non-cricketing bureaucrat who treats national sports administration as a side project, oversees record embarrassing defeats, and drives domestic standards into the ground is an utter disgrace to the sport. Keeping him off that presentation podium strips away the unearned photo-op he craves and sends an unmistakable message that incompetent, self-serving political appointees have no place representing the highest levels of international cricket,” one user on Instagram said.
Another said Naqvi totally deserves this. “Well done India cricket team, also don’t bother to play with us, we can’t do s*** except do stupid taunting when we make 55 score in the whole match and act like you won it.”
(Edited by Prashant Dixit)