Mohsin Naqvi likely to avoid ICC meeting in Dubai as BCCI demands Asia Cup trophy handover: Report

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Mohsin Naqvi is likely to avoid a direct confrontation with the BCCI as he plans to skip the upcoming ICC Executive Board meeting in Dubai owing to “domestic political issues,” according to a report by PTI. Reportedly, the PCB is planning on sending the board's Chief Operating Officer (COO), Sumair Syed, in Naqvi's place for the all-important meeting in Dubai on November 7.

​Naqvi could also join the meeting remotely, the news agency quotes a source as saying. The new report comes shortly after BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia had confirmed that the Indian cricket board planned to raise the issue of the Asia Cup trophy during the ICC meeting.

​Notably, Team India had won the Asia Cup final against Pakistan in September. However, ACC President Mohsin Naqvi refused to hand over the trophy to the winners after the Suryakumar Yadav-led side declined to take it from him. An ACC official then went on to remove the trophy from its place and carried it out of the ground.

​"We have approached ACC and we have sent a letter 10 days ago. There is no positive response. We are maintaining the same stand. Therefore, we will raise the issue at the ICC meeting, which begins on November 4 in Dubai. The trophy will come, and that is for certain, because this trophy has been won by India hands down. Only the timeline has to be fixed," Saikia told news agency ANI.

​"If we had to take it from him, then we would have taken it on that day of the final. Our stance is evident: we are not accepting it from that gentleman. So, there is no change of stand on the part of the BCCI. We are not accepting the trophy from the ACC Chairman, who is the Interior Minister of Pakistan. Therefore, it has to come but not from his hands,"

​Where is the Asia Cup Trophy?

​The Asia Cup trophy reportedly still stays at the ACC headquarters in Dubai, despite the repeated requests for handover from the BCCI. However, Naqvi has reportedly insisted that India must collect the trophy from him in a separate presentation in Dubai, a request that has been rejected by the BCCI.

​Naqvi also serves as the interior minister position in the Pakistan government and has not attended any ICC meeting ever since Jay Shah took on the role of ICC President last year.

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