Kapil Dev calls for calm after Asia Cup 2025 controversy

KARACHI: India’s World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev on Monday advised his compatriots to "move on" and "let politicians do their job" after the series of controversies at the ACC Men’s T20 Asia Cup 2025.

This year’s continental tournament was marred by controversies, with the Indian players denying handshakes with their Pakistani counterparts and eventually refusing to receive the prestigious trophy from Asian Cricket Council (ACC) President Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

The Indian team’s stubbornness caused an hour-long delay in the commencement of the post-match presentation, drawing criticism from the cricket fraternity, including Ravi Shastri.

The closing ceremony of the eight-team tournament eventually started after a 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 the 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.

Subsequently, the organisers took the Asia Cup 2025 trophy with them, leaving the Indian team waiting to get their hands on the title trophy.

Speaking to an Indian news channel, Kapil Dev, who captained India to World Cup glory in 1983, said that while it was natural for players to have feelings for their country, such emotions should not prevent sportsmanship on the field.

"Shaking hands is not a big thing. You didn't shake hands; it does not matter. You have also announced that you don't want to take the trophy from that man. That's also fine."

He added, "But you can't linger on for this type of thing. You have to finish, you have to move on. Let the government do that job, let the politician do that job."

The ex-cricketer urged that both sides should strive to resolve issues.

For media quarters, Dev was of the view: "I just want to say — your responsibility, and responsibility for the entire media, also we should look into the sports side rather than looking into the politics side."

"Yes, the media has the responsibility to bring everything to the table, but as a sportsman, I would like to see that we stick to sports. It will be much better," he added.