The final match of the Women's Asia Cup 2026 was played in Dubai on Sunday (13 September) between India and Sri Lanka. In this match, Team India achieved the honor of becoming champion for the record eighth time by winning a huge victory by 72 runs. The Indian team, captained by Harmanpreet Kaur, did not take the trophy from Pakistani Mohsin Naqvi after winning the title. Naqvi is the chairman of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Apart from this, he is also the Home Minister of Pakistan.
Naqvi has been accused of injecting politics into cricket. Also, he keeps giving controversial statements about India, due to which the Indian team has been refusing to accept the trophy from him. Last year, the Indian men's team had refused to accept the trophy from Naqvi after winning the Asia Cup. Continuing this tradition, the women's team boycotted the awards ceremony.
Naqvi handed over the prize money check to the Sri Lankan team and left the stadium, after which the award ceremony was ended. The Indian team remained empty handed even after becoming the champion. On this, people abused Naqvi a lot. Meanwhile, a video of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Secretary Devjit Saikia and Naqvi is becoming increasingly viral on social media. People got enraged after seeing Saikia laughingly talking to Naqvi in that video, after which BCCI Secretary had to give clarification.
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Is nationalism limited to cricketers only?
After India's victory, the focus of the camera went to the Royal Box, where Naqvi was first seen congratulating BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla. After this he congratulated Saikia. Then Saikia was seen laughing and talking to Naqvi. On this, an X user sarcastically wrote that 'nationalism' is limited only to cricketers. Some users have raised the question that our players cannot take the trophy from that person's hands but BCCI officials can sit with him and watch the match.
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What did Saikia say on the viral video?
After the uproar escalated, Saikia immediately gave clarification. Regarding meeting Naqvi, he told news agency IANS, 'It is not that we do not meet anyone. I was sitting outside the Royal Box seats from the toss till the end of the match. I remained sitting there during the entire match. Whoever came to meet me during the match, he met me.
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He further said, 'Someone came and sat next to me, then Shukla (Rajeev) came and sat with me. The person (Mohsin Naqvi) you mentioned also came and sat next to Deputy Chairman Khalid Saheb. This is a common tradition – whenever someone comes, we meet everyone and talk.