BCCI president explains why team India chose not to receive trophy from Mohsin Naqvi at Asia Cup 2026

The Indian women’s cricket team recently strode towards the victory cup of the Women’s Asia Cup 2026. But amidst the celebrations, they stood firm and showed solidarity with the Indian men’s team when it came to receiving the trophy from Asian Cricket Council president Mohsin Naqvi. The presentation was delayed, and as the ACC president was left alone on the podium, he decided to walk away. 

India wins the Women’s Asia Cup, but team takes a firm stand on trophy presentation; here's why

BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia said that the BCCI has "no regrets" over the incident. “Everything went very well. We won, and everyone is extremely happy. Everyone is proud of their performance, and the biggest thing is that our country’s name is shining bright," Saikia was quoted telling IANS.

"We tried to solve today's situation, but our efforts were not successful. We don’t have any regrets. Our ultimate priority and ambition was not to focus on who would give the trophy. We wanted the Indian team to win and we’ve achieved that,” added Saikia.

A year back when the men’s cricket team won the Asia Cup, they decided not to receive any kind of honour or encourage celebratory moves from Mohsin Naqvi. Besides being the ACC president, Mohsin is also the PCB chief and Pakistan’s interior minister.

The difficult relationship between India and Pakistan has led to this stern decision. Following the 2025 Pahalgam incident, India’s cricket team declined to collect the Asia Cup trophy after defeating their neighbours by five wickets in the final in Dubai.

The summit clash marked the third meeting between the two rivals during the tournament and came just over four months after a brief but intense aerial conflict between the countries. The hostilities were sparked by the April 22 attack on tourists in Pahalgam, in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Saikia added, “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. But our government has a policy that we must play against every country in multinational tournaments."

"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. It doesn’t diminish the performances of our team. We have won all our matches in a one-sided manner," he added.

The Asia Cup triumph has boosted the Indian women’s team ahead of the cricket competition at the 2026 Asian Games. Harmanpreet Kaur’s side will begin their campaign against hosts Japan in the quarterfinals on September 18, with the team set to fly directly from Dubai to Japan.

As the defending champions, India head into the tournament as favourites to retain their title and claim another gold medal. They could potentially meet Bangladesh in the next stage, with Bangladesh facing China in their quarterfinal clash.

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