Mohsin Naqvi, Devajit Saikia. (Photo/screengrab)
Harmanpreet Kaur-led India beat Sri Lanka by 72 runs to win a record-extending eighth Women’s Asia Cup title. Hours after the final, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia defended the decision, saying situation has changed after the 2025 Pahalgam terror attack. And our whole situation, since the April 2025 Pahalgam incident, changed after that.
“Our men’s team won the Asia Cup a year and a half ago.
But our government has a policy that we must play against every country in multinational tournaments,” Saikia told news agency IANS. But after the match, the Indian players did not return to the field for the presentation ceremony where Naqvi, who is also the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman and Pakistan’s interior minister, was present. So, after that, there was pressure on us from our citizens that we shouldn’t keep any relations with our neighboring country and not play cricket with them. However, television cameras showed Saikia meeting Naqvi during the match. As players shook hands after the final, the broadcast showed the Royal Box at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, where Naqvi first greeted BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla and then had a conversation with Saikia. The Indian team is yet to receive the Asia Cup trophy, which has since been kept in the ACC office.
It may be recalled that the Indian men’s team had last year declined to receive the Asia Cup trophy and medals from Naqvi, who heads the Pakistan Cricket Board and is also the Interior Minister of that country. The Asia Cup trophy drama continued for the second year in a row after Indian women’s cricket team did not receive the trophy from Asian Cricket Council (ACC) chairman Mohsin Naqvi following their title win in Dubai on Sunday.