Mumbai: The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) chairman, Mohsin Naqvi, has offered to organise an event in Dubai next month, where the Asia Cup can be handed over to the Indian men’s cricket team. The event scheduled on November 10 has been proposed after an exchange of a series of letters between the Asian Cricket Council and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Naqvi, the Pakistan Cricket Board president and the country’s Interior Minister, informed of his intention of handing over the trophy on November 10, according to a report by Telecom Asia Sport.
“There was a series of letters exchanged with the BCCI, and the ACC has conveyed to them that we are ready to host Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav and his players with BCCI official Rajiv Shukla to take the trophy in a ceremony on November 10 in Dubai,” Naqvi told the media in Karachi.
Following their victory over Pakistan in the final on September 28, the Indian team declined to accept the trophy from Naqvi, who had insisted on presenting it personally in his capacity as ACC president. The stalemate continued for nearly an hour before Naqvi ordered the trophy to be taken away from the stadium, said the report on www.telecomasia.net.
Later, India skipper Suryakumar mocked receiving the trophy and shared it with his players. The Indian team returned without taking the trophy.
The Indian players refused to accept the Asia Cup trophy from Naqvi for his role in supporting terrorism in India as Pakistan’s Interior Minister.
Reports from India had suggested that the BCCI was considering taking up the matter with the International Cricket Council (ICC) and ACC meetings in the near future. The ICC Board meeting is due in Dubai from November 4-7.
“The ACC has written to the BCCI that a ceremony can be held in Dubai on November 10. Bring your captain and players and receive the trophy from me,” said Naqvi.
India beat Pakistan in all three matches of the Asia Cup, and the Indian players refused to shake hands with the Pakistan players in all three.
Suryakumar dedicated the first match win to the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, a statement which ended in a 30 per cent match fee fine by the ICC.
Pakistan paceman Haris Rauf was also fined 30 per cent of his fee for showing political slogans in the second match, also in Dubai on September 21, but opener Sahibzada Farhan was let off for his gun-firing celebration with the bat after reaching a half-century in the second game.
(IANS)
