Mohsin Naqvi, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) president and Pakistan’s Interior Minister, has unexpectedly emerged as a national hero in Pakistan following his controversial decision to withhold the Asia Cup 2025 trophy after the final in Dubai. The trophy remains stationed in Naqvi’s Dubai office, despite repeated requests from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for its official handover to the victorious Indian side.
Naqvi, also a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman, has remained adamant on his condition that the trophy should be handed over to the Indian team in person something the BCCI has outrightly refused. Naqvi followed up on the Indian board’s official complaint by sending a strongly worded reply accepting receipt of the letter minutes before the ACC’s Annual General Meeting on September 30.
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In his written reply, Naqvi offered belated felicitations to Team India on their Asia Cup victory a gesture that was glaringly lacking at the AGM but also expressed disappointment at what he termed the Indian team’s poor sportsmanship. Naqvi said he waited for close to 40 minutes on the stage of presentation, hoping to present the trophy personally to Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav and his players, only for the moment to be disrespected.
“Receipt of your letter dated September 30, 2025, is acknowledged. The letter was received just prior to the commencement of the ACC Annual General Meeting (AGM), which was scheduled for 3:00 PM (UAE time) on September 30, 2025. The BCCI was represented online at the AGM by Mr Rajeev Shukla and Ashish Shelar. This matter was discussed in detail during the AGM; however, since you have circulated this letter to ACC members, it is only appropriate to set the record straight,” the letter read, according to India Today.
“At the very outset, we must congratulate you and the Indian Cricket Team on winning the Asia Cup 2025, as the ACC President did earlier in the AGM. The ACC President is extremely appreciative and notes with pleasure the emphasis you have placed in your letter on longstanding customs, traditions, established practices, cricketing protocols, and fundamental elements of sporting integrity. We wish with all our hearts that such expressions were not merely limited to vocabulary used in a letter but also displayed vehemently on the field of play.”
“As regards the remainder of your letter, slanderous as it may be and digressing from the same values you highlighted, the office of the ACC President will not indulge in petty politics. There was never any official communication shared with the ACC office or the Tournament Director highlighting any position or concern of the BCCI with respect to prize distribution. It was only when the ceremony was about to take place and distinguished guests had taken their place on the stage that the BCCI’s representative conveyed that the Indian Cricket Team would not be receiving the Asia Cup Trophy and awards.”
Calling India’s official letter “slanderous and diversionary,” Naqvi asserted that he would not indulge in “petty politics,” stressing that no formal communication had been made to him about the Indian team’s refusal to accept the trophy. The standoff has not only deepened the rift between the two cricketing boards but also amplified Naqvi’s domestic standing, as many in Pakistan view his firmness as a symbolic assertion of national pride.
