New Delhi: Why did Indian cricketers refuse to accept the Asia Cup trophy from Pakistani interior minister and Asia Cricket Council (ACC) chairman Mohsin Naqvi?
Was it just because he is a Pakistani?
Maybe not.
It has now come to light that Naqvi’s reposting of certain images on his X handle – not accessible in India – triggered the refusal. One of the images titled ‘Final Day’ showed Pakistani cricketers, including captain Salman Ali Agha and fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi, in flight suits with airborne fighter jets in the background. Earlier during the tournament, he had posted an image of Cristiano Ronaldo depicting a crashing plane.
Such behaviour, coming from a minister in the Pakistani cabinet, who also happens to be the president of the Pakistan Cricket Council (PCC), may have been acceptable.
However, this is not expected from the ACC chairman, particularly when a tournament is on.
No wonder, Suryakumar Yadav’s team refused to accept the trophy from Naqvi. They were ready to receive it from Khalid Al Zarooni, vice chairman of the Emirates Cricket Board, who was present at the venue, but Naqvi refused to give in.
“I have never seen a champion (team) not getting a trophy. We deserved it. The real trophies are my 14 colleagues and they will stay in my memory,” Suryakumar said in the post-match media briefing.
Sunday’s final match was the third meeting between India and Pakistan in the tournament. The Indian side had made it clear from the start that it would not shake hands with Pakistani players. Suryakumar had also dedicated the first victory against Pakistan in the tournament to the families of victims of the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people lost their lives.
While this decision by India soured relations between the two sides In Dubai, Naqvi had spoken about keeping politics and cricket apart after the Pakistani side announced their intention to boycott the tournament.
“If we had to go to boycott, which was a very big decision — the prime minister, government officials and lots of other people were also involved, and we got their full support. We were monitoring the issue,” he said during a press conference in Lahore.
“We believe that politics and sports can’t go together. This is sports, and let it remain a sport. Cricket should be separate from all this,” he added.
But if that was really his stance, how did the controversial posts appear on his X handle, people would like to know.
