India’s women’s team’s decision not to receive the trophy from Mohsin Naqvi was a show of solidarity with the men’s team. “Our men’s team won the Asia Cup a year and a half ago.

And our whole situation, since the April 2025 Pahalgam incident, changed after that. So, after that, there was pressure on us from our citizens that we shouldn’t keep any relations with our neighboring country and not play cricket with them.

But our government has a policy that we must play against every country in multinational tournaments...” “But that doesn’t mean we will follow every condition laid out for us.

Our military conflict is still ongoing. One of the main leaders who is working against the interests of our country; we can’t receive the trophy from him.

The Women’s team has expressed solidarity with the decision taken by the men’s team last year,” Saikia said. The decision brought back memories of the controversial presentation after the men's Asia Cup final in 2025.

India had beaten Pakistan in the final, but the players were left waiting for more than an hour to receive the trophy and medals. This time, India had completed a comfortable 72-run victory over Sri Lanka to win a record-extending eighth Women's Asia Cup title.

Harmanpreet Kaur and her teammates celebrated on the field, but the Indian side did not collect the trophy from Naqvi during the presentation. Naqvi was present at the stadium as India sealed the title and was seated alongside dignitaries including BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla and Saikia.

He later went on stage and handed the runners-up cheque to Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu. The presentation then ended without India receiving the trophy from him.

“It doesn’t diminish the performances of our team. We have won all our matches in a one-sided manner.

Women’s cricket has been growing so well in India and there’s no bigger evidence of that than this. Our whole planning is geared towards the 2026 ICC T20 World Cup.

The happiest part of this tournament is how India has left everyone else behind and surged so far ahead.” “It’s not as if we wouldn’t meet anyone.

I was sitting outside in the Royal Box seats right from the toss until the end of the game. Having sat there, I remained in that same place throughout the match.