Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi has firmly denied Indian media reports alleging that he apologised to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) following the trophy handover controversy during Sunday’s Asia Cup final.
The closing ceremony of the men’s Asia Cup turned into a spectacle of tension as the Indian team refused to receive the winners’ trophy from Naqvi. The unusual incident not only marred the celebration but also underscored the strained cricketing ties between Pakistan and India. Matters escalated further when Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav claimed that his side had been “denied the trophy” despite clinching the Asia Cup title.
Indian outlets such as India Today, Financial Express, and Hindustan Times went on to suggest that Naqvi had refused to hand over the trophy altogether and, in a subsequent development, had apologised privately to the BCCI. Responding directly on social media platform X, Naqvi dismissed these reports as “fabricated nonsense” and “cheap propaganda”, insisting:
“Indian media thrives on lies, not facts. Let me make it absolutely clear: I have done nothing wrong and I have never apologised to the BCCI nor will I ever do so.”
The PCB chief accused the Indian press of deliberately misleading its own audience, calling the episode an attempt to inject politics into cricket and corrode the spirit of the game. Stressing his willingness to resolve the matter, Naqvi declared that he was ready to hand over the trophy on the night of the final and remains ready even now. “If they truly want it, they are welcome to come to the ACC office and collect it from me,” he remarked pointedly.
This controversy is the latest flashpoint in an already heated rivalry. During the Asia Cup itself, Naqvi had voiced frustration over what he described as India’s lack of sportsmanship after Yadav dedicated his team’s triumph to the victims of the Pahalgam terrorist attack in May—a dedication that many in Pakistan saw as politicising sport. That attack had already set off a dangerous chain of events earlier this year, with India launching air strikes inside Pakistan, prompting fears of war before tensions cooled under U.S. pressure.
The ICC has not remained a bystander in these tensions. The governing body fined Yadav 30 per cent of his match fee for breaching its Code of Conduct with his post-match remarks, while Pakistan’s Haris Rauf and Sahibzada Farhan were reprimanded for provocative gestures during their Super Four clash with India.
The controversy even spilled into the political sphere. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in congratulating his national team, framed their Asia Cup win as part of “Operation Sindoor,” drawing a direct line between cricket and India’s military posturing. Naqvi shot back with a caustic response, reminding Modi that “if war was your measure of pride, history already records your humiliating defeats at Pakistan’s hands,” asserting that no cricket match could rewrite that truth. “Dragging war into sport only exposes desperation and disgraces the very spirit of the game,” he concluded.
What should have been a moment of sporting glory has instead deepened the chasm between the two neighbours. The trophy row has become more than a ceremonial dispute—it is a reflection of how deeply politics has intruded upon the cricketing field, leaving little room for the game to serve as the bridge it once was.
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