India Retain Asia Cup; Presentation Aborted

India retained the Asia Cup with a tense five-wicket win over Pakistan in Dubai, anchored by Tilak Varma’s unbeaten 69 and Kuldeep Yadav’s four-wicket spell, with Rinku Singh hitting the boundary that sealed the victory; Abhishek Sharma was named player of the tournament. The post-match presentation descended into controversy after the Indian team refused to accept the winners’ trophy from ACC chief and Pakistan interior minister Mohsin Naqvi, prompting a prolonged delay and an ultimately aborted presentation. Reports conflicted over the trophy’s whereabouts — organisers were said to have moved it into India’s dressing room while other accounts said Naqvi left the stadium with the trophy — and only a limited number of Indian players collected individual awards amid the standoff. India cited Naqvi’s political social-media posts and earlier tensions, including repeated refusals to shake hands with Pakistan players, as the reason for their stance. Naqvi replied to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s congratulatory post accusing India of “dragging war into sport,” and the episode drew widespread reaction, with the PCB saying it would donate match fees to civilian victims of the May clashes and viral images of players posing with an “imaginary” trophy dominating headlines.