In a dramatic turn after India’s thrilling Asia Cup 2025 final win over Pakistan, the Indian players refused to receive the trophy from Asian Cricket Council (ACC) chief and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Mohsin Naqvi in Dubai on Sunday.
The decision from the Indian cricket team led to a delay in the post-match presentation, with Pakistan players too staying put in their dressing room, adding to the chaos inside the Dubai International Stadium.
After India’s refusal to collect the trophy from Naqvi, who is also the Interior Minister for Pakistan, he also didn’t budge from his position to hand over the trophy to the winning team. The trophy was eventually taken off the ground before the other presentations ensued, a Cricbuzz report said.
In the end, while Tilak Varma, Kuldeep Yadav, and Abhishek Sharma accepted their individual awards from the sponsors, the Indian team declined to collect their winners’ medals and the championship trophy.
The controversy came against the backdrop of already heightened tensions between the two sides. The customary pre-final photo shoot with the trophy, scheduled for Saturday, was scrapped after India captain Suryakumar Yadav declined to pose alongside Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha and Naqvi.
Notably, this year’s edition has been the most politically charged in the Asia Cup’s 41-year history, being played just months after the Pahalgam terror attack.
Suryakumar Yadav Opens Up On ‘No Trophy’ Drama
While speaking at the post-match press conference, India captain Suryakumar Yadav said that he hasn’t experineced anything like before.
“This is one thing which I have never seen since I have started playing cricket, since I have started following cricket that a champion team is denied to get a trophy. That too a hard-earned one, it’s not like we got it easily. It was a hard-earned tournament. We were here since the 4th, played two back-to-back good games. I feel we deserved it. I can’t say anything more, I think I have summed it up really well, I can’t say anything more about it,” said Suryakumar.
“If you tell me about the trophies, my trophies are sitting in the dressing room, all the 14 guys, all the support staff – those are the real trophies who I have been a big fan of throughout this journey of Asia Cup. Those are the real trophies, the real moments which I am taking back as lovely memories and which will stay forever,” he added.