Politics · India Bureau
Indian women's Asia Cup trophy snub was collective BCCI decision: Shukla
BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla has defended the Indian women's cricket team's decision to decline the Asia Cup trophy from Pakistani ACC chairman Mohsin Naqvi, characterizing it as a unanimous institutional stance. The refusal, following India's 72-run victory over Sri Lanka in Dubai, continues a protest initiated by the men's team last year.
LSN India ·
The Indian women's cricket team's refusal to accept the Asia Cup trophy from Asian Cricket Council chairman Mohsin Naqvi represents a "collective decision" of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, according to BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla.
Shukla made the statement upon returning to Delhi with the championship-winning squad on Monday, emphasizing that Naqvi raised no objections to the arrangement. "We discussed the matter among ourselves and decided that we would not accept it from him. It was our collective decision. He also did not raise any objection to it," Shukla told reporters at Indira Gandhi International Airport.
India secured the continental title by defeating Sri Lanka by 72 runs in the final held in Dubai on Sunday. The trophy rejection mirrors a similar stance adopted by the Indian men's team during the 2025 Asia Cup, part of an ongoing protest stemming from the Pahalgam terror attack in Kashmir last year, which resulted in 26 deaths.
According to Shukla, the team was informed of the decision in advance, and the presentation formalities proceeded accordingly. "We informed our team accordingly, and he presented it to whoever he had to and then left," the BCCI official explained. BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia had earlier echoed this institutional position regarding the conscious policy decision.