BCCI to take Asia Cup trophy dispute to ICC after rejecting PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi’s suggestion

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is set to escalate its ongoing standoff with the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) over.

The Asia Cup trophy handover to the International Cricket Council (ICC), after repeated attempts to resolve the issue with ACC president Mohsin Naqvi failed to yield results. The dispute stems from India’s refusal to receive the Asia Cup trophy from Naqvi, who also heads the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), following their victory over Pakistan in the final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on September 28. The trophy remains at the ACC headquarters in Dubai.

Naqvi reportedly told the BCCI that the trophy could be collected from the ACC office — a suggestion the Indian board has firmly rejected. The BCCI insists that the trophy must be formally presented to the winning captain, Suryakumar Yadav, in an official ceremony in keeping with established cricketing protocols.

In an official communication to the ACC, the BCCI demanded that Naqvi personally hand over the trophy to Team India. However, Naqvi reiterated his earlier position, asking the BCCI to send a representative and player to Dubai to collect it.

A senior BCCI official told India Today that the board has decided to raise the matter at the ICC’s upcoming board meeting, scheduled for December 4–7 in Dubai. “We will not accept his response regarding the trophy handover. This issue needs to be addressed at the ICC level,” the official said.

The disagreement was also discussed at the ACC’s Annual General Meeting on September 30, where BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla criticised Naqvi’s conduct, asserting that the Asia Cup trophy rightfully belongs to India. Shukla emphasised that the 2025 trophy must be formally handed to the Indian side and kept under ACC custody until the next edition.

Though reports from Pakistan suggested Naqvi was planning a formal handover ceremony on November 10 to end the controversy, that proposal has not materialised.

In a detailed letter to the BCCI, Naqvi reaffirmed the ACC’s “neutral and apolitical” stance while expressing concern over what he called the “politicisation of cricket.” He also defended the ACC’s actions, claiming that BCCI officials had not communicated any objections before the presentation ceremony.

“It was only when the ceremony was about to begin that BCCI’s representative conveyed that the Indian team would not be receiving the Asia Cup Trophy and awards,” Naqvi wrote.