Will India accept the Women's Asia Cup trophy from Mohsin Naqvi? Exploring possible boycott of Pakistan's ACC and PCB chief

The Men's Asia Cup trophy still has not been handed over to India after the September 2025 final.

Mohsin Naqvi is expected to attend the Women's Asia Cup final in Dubai on September 13.

India's men refused to accept the trophy from Naqvi, who is also Pakistan's interior minister.

Will India accept the Women's Asia Cup trophy from Mohsin Naqvi?

India's women are the side to be defeated at the 2026 Asia Cup and the clear favourites to reach the final on September 13. However, one question remains that has nothing to do with cricket. If Harmanpreet Kaur's team lifts the trophy, who will hand it to them?

Under normal circumstances, the answer would be the president of the Asian Cricket Council. That happens to be Mohsin Naqvi, who is simultaneously the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board and the interior minister of Pakistan, a combination of roles that caused a full-blown diplomatic incident the last time he tried to present a trophy to an Indian side.

Journalist Rohit Jaglan of Rezsports flagged the issue ahead of the group stage, noting that Naqvi was not present for the Women's Asia Cup trophy unveiling ceremony but had attended the corresponding men's event. His absence from the unveiling does not guarantee his absence from the final.

Who is Mohsin Naqvi, and why would he present the Women's Asia Cup trophy?

Naqvi was elected ACC president for a two-year term in April 2025, succeeding Sri Lanka's Shammi Silva. He holds the position alongside his PCB chairmanship and his cabinet portfolio as Pakistan's interior minister, a combination that has made him arguably the most politically prominent figure in Asian cricket administration.

His path to the cricket establishment began through politics rather than the sport itself. Naqvi served as caretaker chief minister of Punjab province from January 2023 to February 2024, and his appointment to the PCB came without a professional cricketing background.

He has since consolidated his position, with PCB-backed candidates sweeping all three contested ACC board seats at the Bangkok AGM in August 2026.

As ACC president, it is his prerogative to present the trophy at the continental body's flagship events. He did so at the Men's Asia Cup final in September 2025, or at least attempted to, and was listed in the ACC's official pre-tournament communication as the individual who would hand over the silverware to the winners.

What happened when India's men's team refused to accept the trophy from Naqvi?

India beat Pakistan by five wickets in a thrilling final-over finish at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on September 28, 2025. What followed was one of the most extraordinary episodes in Asian cricket's history.

The presentation ceremony was delayed by more than an hour after the match ended. While the match finished at around 10:30 PM Dubai time, the wait stretched to close to midnight. BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia confirmed what had caused the hold-up.

"We have decided not to take the Asia Cup trophy from the ACC chairman, who happens to be one of the main political leaders of Pakistan," Saikia told ANI. "So we decided not to take it from him."

India's players had reportedly indicated they were willing to accept the trophy from Emirates Cricket Board vice-chairman Khalid Al Zarooni instead, but that request was denied. Eventually, an official quietly removed the trophy from the dais and carried it off the field without explanation.

Suryakumar Yadav's team celebrated their victory without the physical trophy, posing for photographs miming the act of holding it. The standoff reflected the broader political tensions between the two countries following the Pahalgam terror attack in April 2025, which had already seen India refuse to shake hands with Pakistan players across all three meetings during the tournament.

The trophy still had not reached the BCCI by early November. Saikia wrote to the ACC requesting its handover, and when Naqvi refused to release it, the BCCI threatened to raise the matter at the ICC meeting on November 4. Naqvi denied having apologised and instead invited India to collect the trophy from the ACC office in Dubai.

Will India captain, Harmanpreet Kaur, accept the trophy if they win the Women's Asia Cup?

No official position has been stated by the BCCI on the women's tournament, and the question has not been put directly to Harmanpreet Kaur or the team management. It is, however, impossible to separate it from the unresolved men's trophy standoff.

There are three possible outcomes if India reaches the final and wins. The first is that Naqvi presents the trophy and India accepts it, which would represent a climbdown from the position Saikia articulated in September and seems unlikely given the men's trophy dispute remains open.

The second is a repeat of the men's scenario, with India refusing and the ceremony descending into another standoff at the same venue. The third, and perhaps likeliest, is that the ACC quietly arranges for a different dignitary to handle the presentation, avoiding the confrontation entirely.

Naqvi's absence from the trophy unveiling ceremony may hint at this kind of behind-the-scenes arrangement, though nothing has been confirmed. What is certain is that this is not a decision the players will make on their own.

If the men's episode demonstrated anything, it was that the instruction came from the BCCI rather than the dressing room, and any directive for the women's final will follow the same chain. The players will play the cricket, the board will handle the politics, and whether the trophy ends up in their hands or in the ACC office will be determined well above Harmanpreet Kaur's pay grade.

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