No trophy for India: Mohsin Naqvi plays dirty at ACC meet, snubs BCCI proposal to return Asia Cup, conduct unacceptable

At the heart of it all is the ACC president and PCB chief, Mohsin Naqvi. A stormy ACC meeting in Dubai, days after the final, has added to the already existing fire. The fact that the medals and the trophy are still not in the Indian hands has left a part of the administrators fuming. And the longjam seems to continue with no concrete outcome from a meeting between ACC and the BCCI that took place virtually on Tuesday.

A source revealed to Hindustan Times -

“Naqvi’s behavior in the meeting was totally unbecoming of an ACC chairman. His opening remarks didn’t include a congratulatory message for India for winning the Asia Cup. He only did so after being pointed out by Ashish Shelar repeatedly. He had no intention of talking about India’s win and the missing trophy. The BCCI pointed out that they will take care of logistics; he just needs to get the medals and silverware delivered to ACC headquarters, but he kept deflecting.”

Notably, there was a delay of nearly an hour after the final match of the tournament before the presentation ceremony. It was later learned that the wait was due to Naqvi being persistent in handing over the trophy himself to the winners, despite India not agreeing to the same. However, the ceremony went on after that, and India celebrated their win without the silverware.

The battle beyond the cricket field

The presentation ceremony standoff did not arrive in a vacuum. Throughout the tournament, India maintained a no-handshake protocol with Pakistan, which triggered former players, experts, influencers, and the general population to talk about it.

What started as a stance of solidarity by the Indian team soon transformed into a dirty and cheap gesturing game by the Pakistan players on the field. Players being fined for their conduct on and off the field, to two different toss representatives interviewing the captains on the night of the final, everything kept adding to the tense narrative.

Click here to read article