{"id":177958,"date":"2025-09-29T16:39:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T16:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/177958\/"},"modified":"2025-09-29T16:39:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T16:39:07","slug":"why-did-india-refuse-to-accept-the-asia-cup-trophy-after-beating-pakistan-conflict-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/177958\/","title":{"rendered":"Why did India refuse to accept the Asia Cup trophy after beating Pakistan? | Conflict News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tensions between India and Pakistan scorched the world of sports on Sunday\u00a0when the Indian cricket team refused to accept the Asia Cup trophy<\/a> after beating their neighbours by five wickets in the final in Dubai.<\/p>\n

The match was the third contest<\/a> between the rivals in the tournament, four months after they fought a short but intense aerial war,\u00a0triggered by a deadly April 22 attack on tourists<\/a> in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listWhy did India refuse to take the trophy?<\/p>\n

India refused to take the trophy because it was presented by Mohsin Naqvi, who is the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) president as well as the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).<\/p>\n

Naqvi is also Pakistan\u2019s federal interior minister.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have decided not to take the Asia Cup trophy from the ACC chairman, who happens to be one of the main [political] leaders of Pakistan,\u201d Devajit Saikia, the chairman of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), told India\u2019s ANI news agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat does not mean that the gentleman will take away the trophy with him along with the medals. So it is very unfortunate and we hope that the trophy and the medals will be returned to India as soon as possible,\u201d Saikia said, referring to a bizarre sequence of events that played out after the conclusion of the match.<\/p>\n

What happened during the India-Pakistan Asia Cup match?<\/p>\n

While the game ended at about 10:30pm (18:30 GMT), the final award presentation was delayed until about midnight (20:00 GMT). Naqvi could be seen in television footage, speaking with match officials.<\/p>\n

Before the presentation began and after the stage was set up, an official removed the Asia Cup champions trophy from the raised dais, without explanation.<\/p>\n

Indian players Kuldeep Yadav, Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma received their individual awards from other dignitaries on stage during the presentation. Naqvi was on stage when this happened, but the Indian players did not acknowledge the ACC chief and Pakistani minister, who also did not clap for them.<\/p>\n

Pakistani captain Salman Agha then collected the runners-up cheque from Naqvi.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been informed by the Asian Cricket Council that the Indian cricket team will not be collecting their awards tonight,\u201d said Simon Doull, former cricketer from New Zealand, who conducted the post-match presentation.<\/p>\n

Doull then announced the conclusion of the post-match presentation ceremony.<\/p>\n

The Indian team then celebrated, pretending to hold a trophy.<\/p>\n

While officials have not confirmed the present location of the trophy, it is usually kept with the tournament organisers until it is handed over to the winners \u2013 and until late on Sunday, the Indian team had not received it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is one thing which I have never seen since I started playing cricket, started following cricket, that a champion team is denied a trophy, that too a hard-earned one,\u201d Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav said during a news conference after the presentation. \u201cI feel we deserved it. I can\u2019t say anything more, I\u2019ve summed it up really well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yadav added it was the team\u2019s decision to refuse the trophy and \u201cno one told us to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is the context?<\/p>\n

India-Pakistan relations have been in trouble for years. But they plummeted further after gunmen killed 26 men during an attack on Pahalgam, a tourism site in Indian-administered Kashmir, on April 22.<\/p>\n

The Resistance Front (TRF)<\/a>, an armed group which demands Kashmir\u2019s independence, claimed responsibility for the attack. India alleges that the TRF is a branch of Pakistan-based armed group, the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT),<\/a> an allegation Islamabad denies.<\/p>\n

Following the attack, the two countries scaled back diplomatic relations and India suspended its participation in the Indus Waters Treaty<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On May 7, India launched multiple missile attacks<\/a> on sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir under what it called Operation Sindoor.<\/a> India said it struck nine sites in Pakistan, which said dozens of civilians were killed.<\/p>\n

On May 10, Pakistan launched Operation Bunyan Marsoos<\/a>, targeting at least six Indian military sites and killing at least 5 Indians, according to Indian authorities.<\/p>\n

On the same day, the two sides reached a ceasefire agreement<\/a> which was announced by US President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Have cricketing tensions been building up, too?<\/p>\n

Yes, Sunday\u2019s eruption of hostilities after the match was the culmination of weeks of tension that had clouded the Asia Cup.<\/p>\n

In India, many politicians and influential public figures \u2013 including some who are supportive of Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s Hindu majoritarian Bharatiya Janata Party government \u2013 had called on their nation\u2019s team to boycott the matches with Pakistan.<\/p>\n

Pro-Modi television channels criticised the BCCI \u2013 which in recent years has been closely aligned in its policies with the Indian government \u2013 for participating in the Asia Cup alongside Pakistan. The BCCI said it was following the government\u2019s instructions, under which India refuses to play bilateral tournaments with Pakistan but participates in multi-nation contests \u2013 including in games against Pakistan in those events.<\/p>\n

Eventually, India didn\u2019t just play in the Asia Cup, but faced off against Pakistan in three matches.<\/p>\n

While India won all three games \u2013 including the final \u2013 its players refused to shake hands with the Pakistani team, a move that was criticised by Pakistan.<\/p>\n

After the first match on September 14, Indian captain Yadav brought up the conflict during his speech, dedicating the win to the Indian army. \u201cWe stand by the victims of the families of Pahalgam terror attack. We express our solidarity. Want to dedicate the win to all our armed forces who showed a lot of bravery,\u201d Yadav said during the post-match presentation.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile,\u00a0Pakistani pacer Haris Rauf responded to heckling by Indian spectators during matches by signaling 6-0 with his hands and gesturing the downing of an aircraft, a reference to Pakistan\u2019s claim that six Indian aircraft<\/a> were downed by Pakistan during their May clashes.\u00a0India has acknowledged<\/a> that Pakistan shot down an unspecified number of Indian jets.<\/p>\n

After the second game between Pakistan and India on September 21, Pakistani opener Sahibzada Farhan reached 50 runs. In celebration, he cradled his bat like a machinegun and pretended to fire, a gesture that was upsetting to many Indian fans. In the Pahalgam attack, gunmen asked tourists if they were Muslim, and then shot non-Muslims.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Farhan reached 50 runs again, but this time, celebrated his milestone silently.<\/p>\n

India has also questioned Naqvi\u2019s behaviour during the tournament. Though he is expected to be neutral as ACC chief, he is also PCB boss. When the Indian team refused to shake hands after the first match, he posted on X: \u201cUtterly disappointing to witness the lack of sportsmanship today. Dragging politics into the game goes against the very spirit of sports. Lets hope future victories are celebrated by all teams with grace.\u201d<\/p>\n

In another post on September 15, Naqvi wrote: \u201cThere is nothing more important to me than the honor and prestige of my country,\u201d adding the Pakistani flag emoji at the end.<\/p>\n

What have Indian, Pakistani leaders said about the Asia Cup tensions?<\/p>\n

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote in an X post on Sunday after the game: \u201c#OperationSindoor<\/a> on the games field. Outcome is the same \u2013 India wins! Congrats to our cricketers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quoting Modi\u2019s post, Naqvi replied: \u201cIf war was your measure of pride, history already records your humiliating defeats at Pakistan\u2019s hands. No cricket match can rewrite that truth. Dragging war into sport only exposes desperation and disgraces the very spirit of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t always this way.<\/p>\n

Hasn\u2019t cricket been a bridge between India and Pakistan?<\/p>\n

Indeed, despite tensions, leaders from Pakistan and India have in decades past also used cricket as a diplomatic tool to ease tensions, build a public environment favourable for talks, and create a setting for political interaction.<\/p>\n

The idea of \u201ccricket diplomacy\u201d<\/a> was popularised by Pakistan\u2019s President Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq, who governed the country from 1978 to 1988.<\/p>\n

In February 1987, Zia-ul-Haq visited India to watch a test match while tensions over Kashmir were at a high after India had amassed troops along their disputed border.<\/p>\n

Twelve years later, in early 1999, India hosted the Pakistan cricket team for their first bilateral test series in a decade \u2013 just eight months after the neighbours had both tested nuclear weapons, leading to soaring tensions. After Pakistan won a tense, closely fought match in Chennai in January, its players took a lap around the stadium to a standing ovation from Indian fans, underscoring how cricketers too understood their public diplomacy role.<\/p>\n

Between 2003 and 2008, cricket diplomacy reached its peak, with India and Pakistan each hosting the other for two test series. In April 2005, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf went to India to attend talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The two leaders attended a cricket match between their teams.<\/p>\n

In March 2011, Singh invited Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to watch the World Cup semifinal<\/a> between India and Pakistan with him. Gilani accepted the invite and visited India.<\/p>\n

Was India\u2019s refusal surprising?<\/p>\n

In many ways, the events of Sunday were predictable, say experts. The organisers had announced that Naqvi, as ACC chief, would be handing over the winner\u2019s trophy.<\/p>\n

India\u2019s reaction too wasn\u2019t surprising, analysts say.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is often said that international politics and sports should remain separate, but in reality, this is easier said than done,\u201d said Mathew John Moolakkattu, a researcher whose doctoral work at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University in Coimbatore, India, explored cricket diplomacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the ongoing tensions between India and Pakistan, it was perhaps inevitable that these strains would surface in arenas that connect both nations, such as cricket.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moolakkattu pointed out how Indian team captain Yadav had also announced that he would donate his entire match fees to the Indian Army.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Indian team made it clear that while they were proud to accept the trophy, they would not do so from Naqvi due to the underlying tensions and unresolved issues between the two countries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

India\u2019s stance reflects a broader intent to distance itself from Pakistan on all fronts, be it trade, politics, borders, or sports. Until the Indian government believes that Pakistan has taken definitive steps to end its alleged support for global \u201cterrorism\u201d, such diplomatic and symbolic gestures will likely persist, said Moolakkattu. Pakistan rejects India\u2019s allegations of support for cross-border \u201cterrorism\u201d.<\/p>\n

Still, Moolakkattu said, the way the Asia Cup ended \u201cundermines any positive diplomatic outcomes that might have emerged from the tournament\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tensions between India and Pakistan scorched the world of sports on Sunday\u00a0when the Indian cricket team refused to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[1724,64,63,6901,740,1209,69216,12241,44,15299,84,588,85,29994],"class_list":{"0":"post-177958","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-asia","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-conflict","12":"tag-cricket","13":"tag-india","14":"tag-india-pakistan-tensions","15":"tag-middle-east","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-pakistan","18":"tag-politics","19":"tag-sport","20":"tag-sports","21":"tag-united-arab-emirates"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}