Comment | Refusal to collect trophy reflects poorly on the Indian cricket firmament

India has made a habit of winning the Asia Cup while steadfastly refusing to collect the trophy. The men’s side and the women’s outfit will register cricketing triumphs but there will never be a keepsake picture of the respective captains holding aloft the continental cup.

Be it Suryakumar Yadav’s men or Harmanpreet Kaur’s women, the Asia Cup was won twice at Dubai. Last year, the Men in Blue defeated arch-rival Pakistan, and on Sunday, the women eased past Sri Lanka in the final.

The anti-climax though was India’s refusal to accept the trophy from the Asian Cricket Council chairman Mohsin Naqvi. This is a tale stained by the bad-blood rippling through Indo-Pak equations and weighed down by the historical angst on either side of the Wagah border.

That Naqvi is the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman and also the Federal Minister of Interior and Narcotics Control, queers the pitch. With last year’s Pahalgam terror attack worsening the fragile ties between India and Pakistan, the Indian cricket team has avoided the customary handshakes with the opposition players.

In a utopian world, sport and politics should never be mixed but that is never the case with India and Pakistan, especially in cricket. It is war minus the shooting, and yet in turning a cold-shoulder to the sport’s niceties, both the men and women’s units have been churlish in their behaviour.

Obviously the BCCI has instructed the players to be aloof with their rivals. And none can overlook the Central Government’s role in this awkward situation.

Naqvi the politician may have made negative remarks about India in the past, but to use that as a crutch and refuse to turn up at the post-match presentation reflects poorly on the Indian cricket firmament. You don’t win titles and return empty-handed, Indian cricketers have notoriously made this a fine art.