Home
Former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif was highly critical of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) for denying India of the Asia Cup trophy after they defeated Pakistan by five wickets in the final on Sunday. Despite deservedly winning the final, the Men in Blue were unable to celebrate with the trophy after they made their stance clear of not accepting it from ACC chief Mohsin Naqvi. This led to the post-match cremony being delayed for close to 45 minutes and even when it went ahead, India were not handed the trophy and returned to their hotel empty-handed.
Kaif firmly stated that India deserved to lift the trophy as they had worked incredibly hard for it. He further pointed out that lifting the trophy would have been a memorable moment for many players, but they were sadly denied of it.
"What hurts is that the Indian team deserved that trophy moment, they earned the right to celebrate and pose for photos with it after all their hard work, especially after Tilak Varma’s remarkable unbeaten innings that won the final. With captain Suryakumar Yadav leading this young team, these moments become lifelong memories for all, the kind that inspire young players to aspire for India, just like seeing the 1983 World Cup trophy did for us. It’s very sad the players were denied that on the field, though the trophy will come to them later," Kaif said on his YouTube channel.
How many times have India won Asia Cup?
Meanwhile, India's five-wicket victory over Pakistan in the final saw them win the Asia Cup title for a record-extending ninth time. Suryakumar Yadav & Co. were totally dominant throughout the tournament and won seven matches on a trott to once again prove that they are the best cricket team of the Asian continent.
India's dominance over Pakistan
Notably, India also asserted their dominance over their arch-rivals Pakistan by defeating them on a total of three occasions in the tournament. They first handed them a defeat in the group stage, before doing the same in the Super 4 and finally ended up getting the better of them in the all-important final as well. The Men in Blue will now be shifting their focus to red-ball cricket as their next assignment will be a two-match Test assignment against West Indies that will commence from October 2.
ADVERTISEMENT
