The cricket fraternity in Pakistan is miffed with what happened after India won the 2025 Asia Cup trophy. After emerging victorious in Dubai, Suryakumar Yadav and co. refused to accept the championship from Asian Cricket Council (ACC) President Mohsin Naqvi.
The reason for the decision was because of Naqvi being the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman and the Minister of Interior and Narcotics Control in Pakistan. India didn’t wish to share the stage with any Pakistani representative. This was already communicated to the ACC prior to the final. But Naqvi still decided to be the one who would hand over the Asia Cup trophy to the winners.
No India vs Pakistan matches?
For the next hour, the trophy ceremony was delayed. In the end, Indian players didn’t accept the awards or the trophy. They celebrated and left. Naqvi, meanwhile, also left, and that too with the Asia Cup trophy. Whatever happened has irked former Pakistan cricketer Kamran Akmal so much that he says the PCB should outrightly say that they won’t play with India going forward.
“These cheap harkatein (behaviour) we shall keep seeing from India. We have seen in this tournament that they have done as much damage to cricket as they could. The PCB and ACC president took the right stand – take the trophy or not, it will be given by the president only. India will become the joke of the cricketing world. The Pakistan board should immediately say that ‘we should never play against India.’ Let’s see what action ICC takes. What other evidence do you need after this?” Akmal told ARY News.
Not ICC; ECB-CA-CSA should step in
Kamran thinks that the International Cricket Council (ICC) can’t be trusted to resolve the matter between India and Pakistan because Jay Shah, who was the last BCCI Secretary, currently runs the international body. He reckons that other cricket boards should be called in to give a verdict on what occurred at the Asia Cup.
“But the BCCI person is leading the ICC – how will he (Jay Shah) take any action? The other boards have to come together and say we can’t see this in cricket. Sports are not played at anyone’s home. If others don’t play them, then no money is going to come. The earlier these things can be controlled, the better for everybody. A neutral body has to be formed without Pakistan and India; make a committee of Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand, and let them decide on what action to take about all that has happened in this tournament.
Just because you are the richest board in the world, you can’t do this ‘badmashi’. Cricket can’t be run like this. There are other sports in the world; we don’t see such stuff. All the neutral boards should come together. You have to lobby for these issues … We have to see what the cricketing legends of the past, from ours, theirs, the rest of the world, who sit in the commentary box etc. will give a statement on this. On how to stop all this,” Kamran added.
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