Asia Cup 2025: India decide against collecting awards as closing ceremony concludes

DUBAI: The Indian men’s cricket team did not collect their winners’ medals and trophy after winning the ACC Men’s T20 Asia Cup 2025 here at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

The development came after a brief standoff between the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) and the Indian team as the latter was adamant not to receive the silverware from its President, Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

For the unversed, the closing ceremony of the eight-team started after an hour-long delay, with India’s Kuldeep Yadav, Shivam Dube and Tilak Varma receiving individual awards for their respective performances in the summit clash, while Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha collected the prize money cheque for finishing as the runners-up.

Later, Kuldeep was invited again to collect the award for finishing as the highest wicket-taker of Asia Cup 2025, followed by left-handed opener Abhishek Sharma, who was adjudged the Player of the Tournament for scoring 314 runs in seven innings at an average of 44.85.

The closing ceremony concluded without the winning team receiving the trophy, as presenter Simon Doull confirmed its conclusion.

"I have been informed by the ACC that the Indian cricket team will not be collecting their awards tonight. So that does conclude the post-match presentation," informed Doull.

According to the details, the closing ceremony of the continental tournament has been delayed due to the winning team’s refusal to receive the trophy from Naqvi at the behest of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Meanwhile, ACC President Naqvi is firm on his stance and has reportedly refused to take a step back.

The development came after India registered a hard-earned five-wicket victory over arch-rivals Pakistan to clinch the Asia Cup 2025 title.

Put into bat first, Pakistan could accumulate a below-par total of 146 before being bowled out in 19.1 overs despite opening batter Sahibzada Farhan’s half-century.

The Green Shirts got off to a commanding start to their innings as their opening pair of Sahibzada Farhan and Fakhar Zaman gave Pakistan a flamboyant start by putting together 84 runs inside the halfway mark.

Top-ranked T20I batter Varun Chakaravarthy gave India their first breakthrough in the 10th over by dismissing Farhan, who remained the top-scorer with 57 off 38 deliveries, smashing five fours and three sixes.

Despite Farhan’s dismissal, Pakistan were in a decent position as they had reached 113/1 in 12.4 overs before Kuldeep Yadav sent left-handed batter Saim Ayub (14) back.

His dismissal sparked a match-defining collapse, which saw Pakistan lose their remaining eight wickets for just 33 runs in 38 balls and were ultimately bowled out for a meagre 146 in 19.1 overs.

In response, India had to do the hard yards to chase down the modest 147-run target as they conceded 19.4 overs and lost five wickets in the process.

India got off to a dismal start to the pursuit as Faheem Ashraf and Shaheen Shah Afridi ran through their top-order, dismissing in-form Abhishek Sharma (five), skipper Suryakumar Yadav (one) and Shubman Gill (12) cheaply and reducing them to 20/3 in four overs.

Following the disastrous start, middle-order batters Varma and Sanju Samson launched an astounding recovery by putting together 57 runs off 50 deliveries until the latter was sent back by Abrar Ahmed in the 13th over.

The wicketkeeper batter mustered 24 off 21 deliveries with the help of two fours and a six.

Varma was then joined by all-rounder Shivam Dube in the middle, and the duo batted sensibly under pressure to add crucial 60 runs for the fifth wicket until Faheem struck again in the penultimate over, dismissing the latter, who made 33 off 22 with the help of two sixes and as many fours.

Tilak Varma, on the other hand, batted until the end and top-scored with an unbeaten 69 off 53 deliveries, studded with four sixes and three fours.