India vs Sri Lanka Final: Why Mohsin Naqvi Won’t Be There

The trophy standoff everyone was expecting for Sunday's Women's Asia Cup final might not happen after all - not because tensions have cooled, but because the man at the center of it simply won't be in the room.

According to Sportskeeda, citing journalist Rohit Juglan, ACC President Mohsin Naqvi is unlikely to attend the Women's Asia Cup final because he's currently not in Dubai. In his place, ACC Vice President Khalid Zarooni is expected to be present for the trophy ceremony instead.

Why This Was Ever a Storyline

The buildup to this final had been overshadowed by a straightforward question of protocol: Naqvi, who also serves as Pakistan's Interior Minister, is the ACC official responsible for handing over the trophy to the winning side. That protocol collided head-on with reality last year, when India's men beat Pakistan in the 2025 Asia Cup final and refused to accept the trophy from Naqvi at all.

What Happened Last Time

The fallout from that men's final was genuinely chaotic. Pakistan's players delayed the presentation ceremony for over an hour, and when India's turn came, captain Suryakumar Yadav's side declined to take the trophy from Naqvi entirely. Instead, the Indian players celebrated with the champions' banner, with Suryakumar carrying an imaginary trophy and mimicking Rohit Sharma's slow walk from the 2024 T20 World Cup final - followed by mock trophy lifts for the cameras and photoshopped celebration images shared on social media afterward.

Suryakumar didn't hold back at the post-match press conference: "This is one thing which I have never seen since I started playing and following cricket. That a champion team is denied a trophy, that too a hard-earned one. I feel we deserved it, and I can't say anything more. My trophies are sitting in my dressing room, all the 14 guys with me, all the support staff, those are the real trophies." Naqvi subsequently left the venue with the actual Asia Cup trophy, taking it to the ACC office in Dubai.

The pattern repeated in a smaller way months later. When Pakistan won the Under-19 Asia Cup 2025 final against India, Naqvi presented that trophy without incident - but no Indian representative attended the ceremony at all, with runner-up Ayush Mhatre instead receiving his cheque from Afghanistan Cricket Board chairman Mirwais Ashraf.

Why Sunday Was Being Watched So Closely

Set against that backdrop, Naqvi's attendance at the Women's Asia Cup final carried obvious risk of a repeat - especially with India, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, facing defending champions Sri Lanka in a rematch of the 2024 final, where Sri Lanka won by eight wickets on home soil in Dambulla. If India were to win Sunday and Naqvi were presenting, the exact same standoff scenario that played out with the men's team was squarely on the table.

What His Absence Actually Changes

With Naqvi reportedly not attending and Zarooni stepping in instead, that specific flashpoint may simply not materialize this time - not through any resolution of the underlying tension, but through a change in who's physically holding the trophy. Whether that's a deliberate move to avoid a repeat of last year's scenes, or simply a matter of Naqvi's schedule, hasn't been confirmed. Either way, it removes the one variable that turned last year's final from a cricket result into a diplomatic incident, right before India and Sri Lanka take the field for what's already a heavily anticipated rematch.