Former Pakistan batter Mohammad Yousuf on Tuesday launched a passionate defence of Mohsin Naqvi, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) President, following the trophy row at the Women’s Asia Cup. For the second year in a row, an Indian team did not receive the silverware despite winning the continental tournament fair and square and the reason? Mr. Naqvi. The Harmanpreet Kaur-led side refused to accept the title from the current Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman, and the winning team remained firm in the dressing room when the presentation ceremony got underway.
The stance was similar to the previous year when the men’s team didn’t accept the trophy from Naqvi following the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor. The men’s competition saw plenty of bad blood between India and Pakistan, and Naqvi fuelled the fire by making anti-India statements on his social media.
For the majority of the Women’s Asia Cup final, Naqvi stayed away, but the cameras picked him up sitting in the VIP box during the final over of the game. The presentation was delayed, and eventually, the tournament concluded with India not receiving the title.
Yousuf took to social media on Tuesday to say that Naqvi did well, and he further accused India of showing “arrogance.”
“When national pride turns into arrogance, victory brings no reward. A team may win, but a nation without humility remains a loser! No trophy, only heels on heads. #MohsinNaqvi,” Yousuf wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
What did the Indian camp say?
After the trophy fiasco, India women’s head coach Amol Muzumdar revealed that the BCCI’s stance of not accepting the title was adopted by the side, which just went along with it. A day later, the BCCI secretary, Devajit Saikia, revealed that the Indian stance had been made clear to Naqvi well in advance, but he still chose to attend the presentation ceremony.
The Women’s T20 Asia Cup final was attended by both BCCI secretary Saikia and the vice-president Rajeev Shukla. Speaking of the summit clash, India registered a comprehensive 72-run win over Sri Lanka in the final to win the tournament for the record-extending eighth time.
The presentation ceremony in the final got delayed by close to 45 to 50 minutes, and when the proceedings started, only the Sri Lankan team came to the middle to receive their runners-up medals. The runners-up cheque was presented by Naqvi to the Sri Lankan captain and when Chamari Athapaththu got done with the broadcaster interview, the proceedings came to an end.
