Dubai, October 22: The tug-of-war over the Asia Cup 2025 trophy continues, as Asian Cricket Council (ACC) chief and Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has refused to send the trophy to India.
Naqvi, who also heads the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), continues to keep the trophy in his Dubai office, despite multiple requests from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Naqvi has maintained that the trophy will only be handed over in person to the Indian team, a condition that the BCCI has declined to accept. In response to the BCCI’s formal complaint, Naqvi sent an official letter acknowledging receipt of their correspondence dated September 30, which was submitted ahead of the ACC Annual General Meeting (AGM).
In the letter, Naqvi congratulated Team India on winning the Asia Cup — a gesture he had not made during the AGM — but also expressed disappointment over what he described as a lack of sporting courtesy from the Indian side.
He claimed that he had waited for around 40 minutes on the presentation dais to hand over the trophy to captain Suryakumar Yadav and his team, but no Indian representative appeared.
“Receipt of your letter dated September 30,2025, is acknowledged. The letter was received just prior to the commencement of the ACC Annual General Meeting (AGM), which was scheduled for 3:00 PM (UAE time) on September 30, 2025. The BCCI was represented online at the AGM by Mr Rajeev Shukla and Ashish Shelar. This matter was discussed in detail during the AGM; however, since you have circulated this letter to ACC members, it is only appropriate to set the record straight,” the letter read, according to India Today.
“At the very outset, we must congratulate you and the Indian Cricket Team on winning the Asia Cup 2025, as the ACC President did earlier in the AGM. The ACC President is extremely appreciative and notes with pleasure the emphasis you have placed in your letter on longstanding customs, traditions, established practices, cricketing protocols, and fundamental elements of sporting integrity. We wish with all our hearts that such expressions were not merely limited to vocabulary used in a letter but also displayed vehemently on the field of play.”
Naqvi further called the BCCI’s letter “slanderous and digressing,” adding that he refused to engage in “petty politics.” He also noted that no official communication had been made to him earlier regarding India’s decision not to accept the trophy in Dubai.
Reiterating his stance, the ACC chief has now asked the BCCI to organise an official ceremony in Dubai if it wants the Indian team to receive the Asia Cup trophy formally.
