Mumbai: Raising a ‘strong objection’ to the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) president Mohsin Naqvi’s act of taking away the Asia Cup trophy and the medals, the BCCI “cornered” Naqvi, who also happens to be Pakistan’s interior minister, in the ACC AGM held in Dubai on Tuesday, TOI has learnt. Vice-president Rajeev Shukla and former treasurer Ashish Shelar were BCCI’s representatives in the AGM, which they attended virtually. “Both Shukla and Shelar completely cornered Naqvi on the issue, which was not listed on the agenda but was taken up before the meeting ended. India raised a strong objection to Naqvi taking away the Asia Cup trophy and medals with him on Sunday night in Dubai after India beat Pakistan in the final by five wickets. When he was asked to return the trophy and medals won by India, Naqvi said that the Indian captain, Suryakumar Yadav, could collect them from him at the ACC office in Dubai.
However, he was told that BCCI’s stance was very clear: the Indian captain would not take the trophy from Naqvi. After Shukla and Shelar put forward India’s argument strongly, Naqvi went on the backfoot and was subdued in the meeting. Bangladesh Cricket Board president Aminul Islam Bulbul suggested that the matter could be resolved later. The matter has been deferred and will now be dealt with between Naqvi and the BCCI, with a mediator in between,” a source told TOI. “We are hopeful that better sense will prevail on Naqvi and he will do the needful, otherwise India will lodge a complaint against him in the ICC,” he added. Explaining how Naqvi was ‘yorked’ in the ACC meeting by BCCI representatives, the source said, “Naqvi was under the impression that being the ACC president, only he could present the trophy on the stage. However, the BCCI representatives told him that there was no such mandate. They cited that in 2022, it was Sri Lanka Cricket president Shammi Silva who presented the trophy to the then Asia Cup champions Sri Lanka, and not Jay Shah, who was then the ACC chairman. He was also told that BCCI was firm in its stance that Surya would not take the trophy from Naqvi, especially in light of his anti-India social media posts recently.” The source added: “No country attending the AGM supported Naqvi’s act. In fact, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka supported India’s stance.”
