PCB Chief 'Ran Away With Asia Cup Trophy', SKY Says 'Never Seen This Before...'

 

 

Dubai : There was drama aplenty following India's thrilling win in the Asia Cup final over arch-rivals Pakistan at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium here on Sunday night, which culminated with Suryakumar Yadav-led side celebrating their triumph without the trophy and medals. Reports suggest that the Asia Cup trophy was not awarded to champions India at the presentation after they refused to accept the silverware from Pakistan minister and Asia Cricket Council (ACC) chief Mohsin Naqvi.

 

BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia told ANI that Naqvi, who also happens to the chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), "ran away with the trophy to his hotel room".

 

"We decided not to take the Asia Cup trophy from the ACC chairman, who happens to be one of the main leaders of Pakistan... But that does not mean that the gentleman will run away with the trophy and the medals. It is very unfortunate and we hope that the trophy and the medals will be returned to India as soon as possible... There is an ICC conference in November in Dubai. In the next conference, we are going to launch a very serious and very strong protest against this act of the ACC chairman," Saikia said.

 

Perhaps, India's T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav (SKY) says, this is for the first time ever that trophy was not awarded to the winning team on a cricket field. But he is unruffled thanks to his 14 "priceless" teammates, each one of them as "precious" as the Asia Cup silverware.

 

Having won the Asia Cup beating Pakistan for the third time in a space of two weeks, Suryakumar and the team refused to take the trophy from Naqvi, who being the 'Interior Minister' of his country is known for his vocal anti-India stand.

 

Since the Indian team didn't take the trophy from Naqvi, the presentation ceremony was concluded with Naqvi leaving the dais and taking the trophy along with him on Sunday night.

 

"I think this is one thing which I have never seen since I started playing and following cricket that a champion team is denied a trophy. I mean that too a hard-earned one. It's not like it happened easily. It was a hard earned tournament win," Suryakumar replied to a query on how it felt being denied the biggest prize after winning seven games at the continental showpiece.

 

"We were here since September 4, we played a game today. Two back-to-back good games in two days. I feel we deserved it. And I can't say anything more. I think I have summed it up really well," the Indian skipper said.

Sending a heart-warming message to his teammates, Surya said, "If you tell me about the trophies, my trophies are sitting in my dressing room. All the 14 guys with me. All the support staff. Those are the real trophies. These are real moments which I am taking back as lovely memories which will stay with me forever going forward. And that's all."

"When the game is done, only the champions will be remembered and not the picture of a trophy," he later posted on X (formerly Twitter).

 

Suryakumar also kept his composure when a Pakistani journalist accused him of bringing in petty politics on cricket field by refusing to shake hands with his counterpart Salman Ali Agha and also not showing up for the customary pre-final photo-shoot.

 

When the Indian media manager wanted to stop the scribe, Surya smiled at him and said, "You are getting angry, right? Why are you getting so angry? And you (referring to the journalist) asked four questions in one."

Another Pakistani journalist tried to put him in a spot by asking if he knew about BCCI mailing to ACC that the team won't receive the trophy from Naqvi. "I don't know what you're saying about the e-mail. I have no idea about this. We took this call on the ground. No one told us to do this... And we were waiting. I think if you win a tournament, do you deserve the trophy or not? You tell me," the skipper countered.

 

Through AI, a picture of Asia Cup being held by Surya and Tilak is circulating on social media and when the skipper was asked how did the celebrations go without the trophy, he was ready with a quick repartee. "You haven't seen the trophy? I have brought it. The team was sitting on the podium. And Abhishek and Shubman have already posted the photo with the trophy. It looks so good. See, how it is."

 

"Rinku Singh hit a four. India won the Asia Cup. After that, we came out and we were celebrating and we applauded every player's achievement -- Tilak, Kuldeep and Bhai (Abhishek) got a car. We celebrated that too. So, what more do you want? This was the chain of events that we wanted to achieve," Surya added.