Politics overshadowed cricket a day after one of the most acrimonious Asia Cup finals, which was more about off-field hostilities between India and Pakistan, relegating cricket and its celebrated spirit to the background.
Suryakumar Yadav and his men held their nerves to win the nail-biting final by five wickets to clinch their ninth Asia Cup title. But that wasn't the accomplishment which dictated the discourse, although it fetched them a handsome Rs 21 crore prize fund from the BCCI.
The point of discussion was the politics of it all as Asian Cricket Council (ACC) chief Mohsin Naqvi, also the Pakistan Cricket Board boss and the Interior Minister of his country, walked away with the winner's trophy after the Indians refused to accept it from a leader known for his frequent anti-India comments.
Consequently, the presentation ceremony was delayed by over an hour. The Indian players then turned to the social media to celebrate the triumph, making it a point to highlight the missing trophy through emojis.
"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 Suryakumar, reflecting on how it felt being denied the biggest prize after winning seven consecutive games at the continental showpiece. Suryakumar couldn't be faulted for being at a loss of words. He had been at the centre of about 90 minutes of pure drama at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
It is learnt that the BCCI had informed their ACC points-person that the team won't take the award from Naqvi, who had posted cryptic videos of Cristiano Ronaldo's plane crash goal celebration, alluding to Pakistan’s claims that six Indian jets were downed during Operation Sindoor.
"No one told us to do this," said Suryakumar, insisting later that the call to boycott Naqvi was taken at the ground. "India cannot take the trophy from the person who is waging a war against our country," said BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia.
As Naqvi got down from the podium due to India's refusal and strode towards the exit gate, the ACC event staff followed him with the trophy, leaving the Indian camp flummoxed. It is learnt that the prized silverware is at the ACC headquarters here.
Naqvi has so far not commented on the sequence of events, but he did take time out to hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's congratulatory social media post for the Indian team. Modi had equated the win to the military operation in May and Naqvi said the analogy was against the spirit of the game.
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Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha criticised his Indian counterpart, describing his actions as disrespectful to the game. "I don't want to use harsh words, but they've been very disrespectful," he said in his post-match media interaction.
"He shook hands with me in private at the start of the tournament, both at the pre-tournament press conference and when we met in the referee's meeting. But when they're out in the world in front of the cameras, they don't shake our hands. I'm sure he's following the instructions he's been given, but if it was up to him, he'd shake hands with me," he said.
Salman also tried to justify Naqvi's decision to stand on the presentation dais before walking away with the trophy. "Everything that happened today was a consequence of all that happened before. Of course, the ACC president will give the trophy to the winners. If you won't take the trophy from him, how will you get it?" he asked.
Also read: Saikia says Mohsin Naqvi took Asia Cup trophy to hotel room
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