Politics casts another shadow over cricket as India decline Asia Cup trophy

Read:Sri Lanka knock Pakistan out, set Asia Cup final with IndiaACC sources said the trophy presentation protocol had been agreed in advance and that the trophy was available to be presented to the winners. They said the Indian team itself decided not to receive it from Naqvi.

"Our position has not changed," the sources said, adding that Naqvi had not moved from his earlier position and remained in the same position on Sunday.

The Asia Cup trophy impasse continued for the second year in a row after the victorious Indian women’s cricket on Sunday did not accept the cup from Mohsin Naqvi, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) chairman from Pakistan. The presentation ceremony was delayed by nearly 50 minutes,…pic.twitter.com/Tdrnr.

Xef. Ja— Cricinfo (@cricinfo)September 13, 2026The incident comes amid already strained cricketing relations between the two neighbours, whose sporting ties have been affected by wider political tensions. India's men's team declined to receive the Asia Cup trophy from Naqvi after winning the men's tournament in 2025.

That tournament was also overshadowed by a handshake dispute between the teams. India's Under-19 side also declined to receive medals from Naqvi after finishing runners-up in a tournament in Dubai, with the medals subsequently presented by an Afghanistan Cricket Board official.

India complete an unbeaten campaign to secure their eighth Women’s Asia Cup title 🇮🇳🏆📝:https://t.co/n0D6WSbm. Ijpic.twitter.com/Fv9C4I8EMo— ICC (@ICC)September 13, 2026Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry criticised India's decision. "India is unable to digest its defeat on the military and diplomatic front and has dragged politics into sports," Chaudhry said.

In the past, India's decision not to travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy, which Pakistan hosted, had been a bad precedent of India’s stance to drag politics into sports. The tournament was subsequently played under a hybrid arrangement, with India's matches moved to a neutral venue.

Also Read:Nashra's record figures put Pakistan in Asia Cup semis. Under the arrangement, India-Pakistan matches in ICC events are also scheduled to be played at neutral venues through 2027. The rivalry has extended beyond cricket.

India has previously declined or prevented some Pakistani sporting teams from travelling to the country, including Pakistan's blind cricket team and kabaddi players, while Pakistani athletes have at times faced difficulties obtaining Indian visas for international competitions.

In 2019, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended the allocation of Olympic qualification events to India after Pakistani shooters were unable to obtain visas for a 25-metre rapid-fire pistol World Cup event in New Delhi. Earlier, Shree Charani claimed four wickets as India crushed Sri Lanka by 72 runs to win the Women's Asia Cup for a record eighth time.

India posted 185-5 from their 20 overs after openers Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana laid the foundation with aggressive half-centuries. Read:Glory without grace: India refuse to collect Asia Cup trophy. Shafali top-scored with 68, while Mandhana made 59 as the pair gave India a commanding start before Sri Lanka's bowlers fought back in the latter stages of the innings.

Sri Lanka struggled in their chase as Charani and Deepti Sharma dismantled the batting lineup. Charani finished with four wickets, while Sharma took three. Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu was their leading scorer with 36 from 32 balls, but only Vishmi Gunaratne and Nilakshi de Silva also managed to reach double figures as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 113.

India captain Harmanpreet Kaur praised her team's consistency throughout the tournament and said they had maintained the standards they had set for themselves. "We know they are a great team. But we played to our standards.

We set high standards for ourselves, and we wanted to keep matching them," Kaur said after the match. "Very happy with the way we all performed. The openers did a great job for us.

The way Shafali and Smriti bat like they did. Great to see someone like Shafali take responsibility through the tournament with the bat and ball. "Athapaththu acknowledged that Sri Lanka had failed to produce their best performance in the final but said the team would use the defeat as motivation ahead of the Asian Games.

"This is part of the game: one team wins, one team loses. But at the end of the day, we did not play our best game in all three departments. They played very well.

But we will bounce back," she said. "We played really good cricket throughout the tournament, but today we struggled a little bit. "