Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi rejected the whispers about him apologising to the BCCI for his action at the Asia Cup 2025 presentation ceremony on Sunday, when he walked away with the trophy after the Indians refused to accept it from him amid the tensions between the two neighbours since Operation Sindoor.
‘India can get the trophy even now from my office, if they truly want it, ’ said Naqvi, who is also the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman and the interior minister of his country, with a pronounced anti-India political position.
"As ACC President, I was ready to hand over the trophy that very day, and I am still ready now. If they truly want it, they are welcome to come to the ACC office and collect it from me. Let me make it absolutely clear: I have done nothing wrong and I have never apologised to the BCCI nor will I ever do so," wrote Mohsin in a post on X.
Ashish Shelar and Rajeev Shukla had represented the BCCI in the ACC AGM, where they raised a strong objection over the trophy not being duly handed over to India, which beat Pakistan in the final by 5 wickets.
On Tuesday, Mohsin clarified to the BCCI officials that he was up to give the trophy to the Indian team. No decision was taken in the AGM on the matter, which further upset the BCCI top brass, who are planning to take the issue to the ICC — the global governing body of cricket.
The International Cricket Council will have its meeting in November.
India and Pakistan came one to one three times in the Asia Cup 2025 tournament. All three matches were won by the Survyakumar Yadav led-Indian team, including the final match.
The controversy:
Following the military conflict between the two nations in May, India followed a “no handshake” policy during all the matches played against Pakistani players in the cup. The gesture indeed infuriated the PCB. This further led to a “gesture rift” between the players of both teams, even during the matches.
The hostilities between the two neighbours are at an all-time high after the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 tourists were gunned down by Pakistan-backed terrorists in India. As a retaliation, the Indian Armed Forces carried out an 'Operation Sindoor', under which they destroyed nine terrorist infrastructures in Pakistan. Since then, tensions between the two Asian countries have impacted several sectors.
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