India Had Already Decided: No Trophy From Naqvi

This wasn't a spontaneous protest born of raw emotion on the podium. According to the BCCI's own account, India decided weeks in advance - and told the Asian Cricket Council directly - that if Mohsin Naqvi showed up to hand over the trophy, the team simply wouldn't take it.

The BCCI had informed the ACC and made what it called a "conscious decision" in advance: if Naqvi attended the presentation and India won, the team would decline to accept the trophy from him. Naqvi is both the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman and interior minister in Pakistan's government, alongside his role as ACC chief - the same combination of titles that made him a flashpoint during last year's men's Asia Cup final.

India beat Sri Lanka by 72 runs to claim their eighth Women's Asia Cup title on Sunday night in Dubai. What followed was almost a replay of 2025: the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side received neither medals nor the trophy, and the presentation ceremony itself was delayed roughly 40 minutes after Sri Lanka's final wicket fell. When the ceremony did happen, it proceeded without India - match officials and Sri Lanka's players collected their mementoes from Naqvi, while India's players were elsewhere entirely.

India Held Their Own Ceremony Instead

Rather than wait around for a presentation they'd already decided not to join, the Indian team ran their own small ceremony inside the ground during the delay - BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia presenting the best fielder award to Nandani Sharma, with vice-president Rajeev Shukla also present. It was a quiet but pointed substitute: India crowning its own player while the official ceremony they were boycotting hadn't even started.

The BCCI's Official Explanation

Saikia laid out the Board's reasoning in a statement to The Telegraph, drawing a careful distinction between playing in the tournament and how the trophy gets handed over. "Our participation in the Asia Cup was in fulfilment of our sporting commitments as a member of the Asian Cricket Council by adhering to the policy in place, and there was never any question of compromising on the spirit of the game or our commitment to international cricket," he said. "However, participation in a multinational tournament and the manner in which the trophy is received are two separate matters."

He added: "Given the circumstances and the sentiments prevailing in the country, the BCCI felt that it would not be appropriate for the team to receive the trophy in the proposed manner. This was a firm institutional decision, reflective of the position we have maintained, and was not directed at the players, the tournament or the sport."

An Unwritten Norm That Naqvi Didn't Honor

There's actually a longstanding, informal practice at the Asia Cup that made this situation avoidable: winners are typically presented their trophy by a representative from their own cricket board, not necessarily the ACC chief himself. Jay Shah, during his own tenure as ACC president, set that precedent in 2022, allowing Sri Lanka Cricket chief Shammi Silva to hand Sri Lanka's players their trophy after they beat Pakistan in that year's final.

Naqvi was offered the same accommodation this time - either ACC deputy chairman Khalid Al Zarooni or someone from the BCCI could have presented the trophy instead. He declined, insisting on presenting it to India Women himself. That refusal to yield is what turned an avoidable scheduling footnote into a repeat diplomatic standoff.

No Objection, According to BCCI's Own Account

BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla, speaking to reporters after the team landed back in India, was clear that the decision was collective and that Naqvi accepted it without pushback. "We discussed the matter among ourselves and decided that we would not accept it [trophy] from him. It was our collective decision. He [Naqvi] also did not raise any objection to it," Shukla said. "We informed our team accordingly, and he presented it to whoever he had to and then left."

Why India's Position Changed at All

Saikia traced the policy shift directly back to the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack in April 2025. "Our men's team won the Asia Cup a year and a half ago. And our whole situation, since the April 2025 Pahalgam incident, changed after that. So, after that, there was pressure on us from our citizens that we shouldn't keep any relations with our neighboring country and not play cricket with them," he told IANS. "But our government has a policy that we must play against every country in multinational tournaments."

He drew a clear line on what that policy does and doesn't require: "But that doesn't mean we will follow every condition laid out for us. Our military conflict is still ongoing. One of the main leaders who is working against the interests of our country; we can't receive the trophy from him. The Women's team has expressed solidarity with the decision taken by the men's team last year."

Addressing the Photo That Raised Eyebrows

Images had circulated showing Saikia speaking with Naqvi during the final itself, prompting some criticism online. Shukla addressed it directly: "What Saikia ji said is absolutely correct. When you are at a match, everyone is present there and interacts in a professional capacity. Therefore, I do not think there should be so much criticism over that." The distinction he's drawing is specific - professional courtesy during a live match is treated as separate from the institutional decision about the trophy ceremony itself.

The Team's Own Response

India head coach Amol Muzumdar made clear the players were fully aligned with the BCCI's stance, and that nothing about the boycott diminished how the team was framing the result. "That stand has been taken by BCCI and we stand by it. For us, this tournament is over. We are the champions... It was on the big board that India champions of Asia Cup 2026. This tournament is officially over for us. We are happy that we have turned out to be champions. Now, we look forward to the Asian Games," he said.

What This Confirms Going Forward

Between this and the men's boycott in 2025, a clear pattern is now established rather than a one-off reaction: India will continue competing against Pakistan in multi-lateral tournaments, in line with government policy, but will not accept a trophy directly from Naqvi specifically, given his dual role as a sitting Pakistani government minister. That distinction - sport versus ceremony - is one the BCCI has now applied consistently across both the men's and women's programs, and one Naqvi's own refusal to compromise has twice turned into a public standoff rather than a quiet workaround.