India captain Suryakumar Yadav revealed the reason behind the team not accepting the winner's medals and the Asia Cup trophy from Mohsin Naqvi after their victory over Pakistan in the final. Huge controversy took place after India defeated Pakistan in the final on Sunday. It all began after the Men in Blue made their stance clear and refused to accept the trophy from Naqvi, who is the current chairman of both the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and Asian Cricket Council (ACC).
However, Naqvi wasn't a fan of this idea and insisted to hand the trophy to Suryakumar & Co. This led to the post-match ceremony being delayed for close to 45 minutes. Eventually, the presentation did end up going ahead, but the Indian team didn't accept neither the trophy and nor the winner's medals. Instead, they were seen doing a trophyless celebration on the podium.
Why did India refuse to accept the trophy?
Soon after, Suryakumar was asked why the Indian team refused to accept the trophy by a Pakistani journalist during the post-match press-conference. He also asked if the BCCI had written a mail to the ICC, informing them about their refusal to take the trophy from Naqvi. Suryakumar had a clear-cut response to this and revealed that the team had taken the call on the field.
“I don’t know about the mail that you are talking about. But we took a call on the ground. Nobody asked us to do that. We waited on the ground for the trophy. You only tell me if a team that had played so well and won the tournament. Doesn’t it deserve the trophy," Suryakumar said.
Meanwhile, Suryakumar had also expressed his thoughts on India not being handed the Asia Cup trophy despite their deserved win in the final. He pointed out that he has never seen such a thing happen in his career and slammed the ACC for denying the Men in Blue of the title.
Suryakumar bashes ACC
"This is one thing which I have never seen. Since I started playing cricket, I have been following cricket. That a champion team is denied a trophy. That too, a hard earned one. It's not like it happened easily. But it was a hard-earned victory. We have been here since the 4th, and played a game today. Two back-to-back good games in two days. I feel we deserved it. And I can't say anything more. I think I have summed it up really well," Suryakumar told reporters.