KARACHI: India once again disrupted the closing ceremony of an international cricket tournament on Sunday, when their women’s team refused to accept the winner’s trophy from Asian Cricket Council Chairman Mohsin Naqvi.
The refusal came after Shree Charani’s fantastic four-wicket haul helped the side beat Sri Lanka by 72 runs to lift the Asia Cup title for the eighth time.
But the trophy presentation at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium was delayed by more than half an hour after India completed a dominant 72-run victory over Sri Lanka in the final, Hindustan Times reported.
ESPNCricinfo also reported that the presentation ceremony wrapped up ‘without the Indian team collecting their winners’ medals or the tro-phy’. Live visuals from the stadium confirmed the same.
However, Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu picked up the runnersup cheque from Mr Naqvi, the outlet added.
The final ball of the match was bowled around 9:55pm UAE time (10:55pm PKT), and by 10:30pm (11:30pm PKT), there were ‘no signs of the presentation ceremony st arting’, Hindustan Times noted.
The outlet pointed out that broadcasters interviewed Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur ‘immediately’, even though the winners’ interview is usually conducted at the end of the presentation ceremony.
Asked whether his team’s refusal to accept the trophy was ‘predecided’, head coach Amol Muzumdar said the ‘stand has been taken by the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India), and we stand by it’.’For us, this tournament is over.
We are the champions; that’s good enough. It was on the big board that India are the champions of Asia Cup 2026,’ he told a post-match press conference in Dubai.
Reacting to the development, Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry said India’s ‘diplomatic defeat and military defeat will not be erased’ by refusing to accept the trophy.
Speaking to Geo News, he slammed India for ‘destroying the sports culture’. ‘Sports spirit matters. If you do not have that spirit, then victory or defeat means nothing,’ he added.
Sunday’s scenes were a virtual replay of what played out in October last year, when India refused to collect the trophy at the closing ceremony of the Men’s Asia Cup final, as tensions from their May 2025 military conflict spilled over into the cricket field.