The BCCI will lodge a “very strong protest” in the next ICC meeting in November against the Asian Cricket Council chief, Mohsin Naqvi, who took hurried action to take away the Asia Cup Trophy after the Indian team refused to accept it from him in Dubai. The BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia justified the refusal to accept the trophy from him by saying India cannot accept the trophy from a person “waging a war against the country.” India defeated Pakistan winning by five wickets in the final on Sunday with Tilak Varma scoring an unbeaten 69 and he was adjudged Player of the Match for the summit clash.
“So far as the trophy is concerned, trophy distribution, India cannot take the trophy from the person who is waging a war against our country,” said Saikia.
“We have taken a decision not to accept the trophy but that does not allow the gentleman to take away the trophy and the medals to his hotel,” he added.
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“This has come off as a bit of a surprise and infantile action, for which we will mount a vigorous protest with the ICC in the forthcoming meeting of the International Cricket Council to be held in Dubai in the first week of November,” Naqvi stated. Naqvi is the President of the Pakistan Cricket Board and also performs the official duty as interior minister of his government.
Saikia praised the Indian team for their undefeated status in the competition.
“India won the seven matches of the group stages; India won the three matches there. Then they won the matches of Group of Four, and, finally,” Saikia remarked.
Out of these seven matches, India had defeated Pakistan three all those nine. “This is a huge victory and a major cricketing achievement for the country.” Considering the decision by the team to play the tournament despite the hefty criticism on engagement with Pakistan in the backdrop of Pahalgam terror attack, Saikia said the Board has been following the policy laid by the Indian government.
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“…when it is a bilateral tournament, India is not going to play against Pakistan or any other hostile country and BCCI has been doing it for last 12 to 15 years,” he said.
” And now the Government has said that in multinational tournaments — Asia Cup is a multinational tournament –, or an international tournament where a lot of other countries are also involved. In those tournaments, Indian team, whether it is cricket or football, we have to play.” “Otherwise, our other games will suffer or the federation will be banned by international federations, so we followed the policy of the central government. We participated inspite of the fact that there are some protests or some resistance from some quarters,” he continued.
Saikia said beating Pakistan across three games of this Asia Cup will bring “happiness to our people”.
“Just today, with this handsome win over Pakistan and the thumping victory of 3-0, I am sure we will bring a lot of happiness to our people. The country is really proud of the performance of Indian cricket team,” he said.
