India beat Pakistan by five wickets in Dubai on Sunday, yet ended the evening holding nothing more than thin air. A protracted, almost surreal presentation ceremony, pushed back by well over an hour, concluded without winners’ medals or the Asia Cup trophy changing hands.
“It feels odd,” one member of the support staff muttered as ground-staff dismantled the stage. Odd was an understatement. India’s players had just edged a final-over finish at around 10.30pm local time, but by midnight they were still milling about the outfield while officials argued on the boundary rope.
Key moment
The turning point came when presenter Simon Doull, addressing a thinning crowd, announced: “I have been informed by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) that the Indian cricket team will not be collecting their awards tonight… So that does conclude the post-match presentation.” The words drew a mixture of boos and bemused laughter from the spectators who had stayed behind.
Why the snub?
ACC president Mohsin Naqvi – also chair of the Pakistan Cricket Board and Pakistan’s interior minister – was slated to hand over the silverware. But relations between the two boards have deteriorated sharply in recent weeks. Indian officials, while staying tight-lipped on record, have let it be known they were uncomfortable receiving the trophy from Naqvi given the current political climate and what they see as pointed remarks from Lahore during the build-up to the tournament.
Timeline of the stand-off
• Full-time: 10.30pm – Pakistan depart for the dressing-room, India stay on the field.
• 11.00pm – Stage still missing; Naqvi arrives, seen in animated discussion with ACC staff.
• 11.25pm – Trophy quietly removed from its plinth and taken off the ground.
• 11.40pm – Ceremony finally begins, minus silverware.
• 11.55pm – Indian trio Kuldeep Yadav, Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma receive individual awards from other dignitaries, making a point of sidestepping Naqvi.
• Midnight – Pakistan skipper Salman Agha collects the runners-up cheque from Naqvi; presentation ends.
• 12.05am – India climb the podium and pose with an imaginary trophy, Suryakumar Yadav miming the lift to roars from the Indian section of the stands.
Body language told its own story. Naqvi kept his hands behind his back during India’s brief appearances on stage and refrained from clapping. Indian players, for their part, avoided eye contact. The tension was hardly a surprise: throughout the competition, India’s captain and players had declined customary handshakes with their Pakistani counterparts at both toss and close.
ACC’s initial plan
Only 24 hours earlier the ACC website had trumpeted that Naqvi would “hand over the trophy to the champions”. After Sunday night’s impasse the board issued no immediate statement, though officials insisted privately that medals and trophy would be forwarded to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) “in due course”.
Voices around the ground
A former India international, watching on commentary duty, admitted the optics were “messy but inevitable”, while a senior Pakistan selector said it was “a sad day for Asian cricket”. Neither was prepared to speak on the record.
Impact on players
Pakistan’s squad, who had left the arena long before the final resolution, looked genuinely puzzled when told of India’s stance. “Players just want closure after a final, you shake hands and move on,” noted one member of their back-room team. Indian batsmen, though jubilant, were clearly uncomfortable with the drawn-out wait and broke into small huddles to keep spirits up.
What next?
Logistically, the simplest fix is couriering the hardware to Mumbai. Politically, the fall-out could linger, especially with the next ACC meeting scheduled for November. A compromise may have to be hammered out if the two nations are to share tournament hosting duties in future.
Analysis
Refusing silverware is rare in international cricket, and the sport’s laws offer little guidance. Yet in a year when bilateral ties between India and Pakistan remain frozen, cricket continues to mirror the wider narrative. Administrators will downplay Sunday’s theatre, but sponsors and broadcasters – kept waiting on live television – will demand clearer protocols.
For the players, the cricket itself will still rankle or delight depending on allegiance. India chased 179 under pressure; Pakistan were one ball short of forcing a Super Over. That should have been the headline. Instead, an absent trophy took centre stage.
In the end, Suryakumar’s imaginary lift may become the abiding image of a night that underlined, once again, how cricket on the subcontinent is never just a game.
