India Women decline the Asia Cup trophy from ACC chief Mohsin Naqvi in Dubai

India were declared Women's Asia Cup champions in Dubai but did not appear at the presentation, declining to take the trophy from ACC president Mohsin Naqvi

India beat Sri Lanka by 72 runs at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday to win the Women's Asia Cup for a record eighth time.

The presentation began about 50 minutes later. Harmanpreet Kaur and her players stayed in the dressing room, and neither the trophy nor the winners' medals were handed over.

Mohsin Naqvi, president of the Asian Cricket Council and chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, presented the runners-up award to Sri Lanka before leaving the ground. The trophy was removed from the presentation area.

A ceremony without the champions

The match finished at 9.50pm local time and the ceremony did not start until 10.40pm.

Match officials collected their medallions first, followed by the Sri Lanka squad. Chamari Athapaththu took the runners-up award from Naqvi.

No player of the match or player of the tournament award was presented, and no India player came out for a medal.

BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia and vice-president Rajiv Shukla handed the squad its medals on the sidelines once the ceremony had finished.

The team later posted a photograph of itself taken on the outfield of an emptied stadium.

What the BCCI said

Saikia said the decision followed the stand the men's team took in the same city a year ago. "The women's team has expressed solidarity with the decision taken by the men's team last year," he said.

He traced it to relations between the two countries rather than to cricket. "Our whole situation, since the April 2025 Pahalgam incident, changed after that," Saikia said, describing Naqvi as a political figure from whom India could not accept a trophy.

Naqvi is Pakistan's interior minister as well as holding the ACC presidency and the PCB chairmanship.

Saikia said the outcome took nothing away from the cricket. "It doesn't diminish the performances of our team. We have won all our matches in a one-sided manner," he said.

The alternatives the board proposed

Saikia said the BCCI had put two options to the ACC before the ceremony: that deputy chairman Khalid Al Jarooni present the trophy, or that a BCCI representative do it.

Both were declined, according to the secretary. "We tried to solve today's situation, but our efforts were not successful. We don't have any regrets," he said.

The BCCI asked for the trophy to be released afterwards and it was not handed over.

Naqvi made no public comment on the women's final.

The men's team set the precedent

India's men won the Asia Cup at the same ground in September 2025, beating Pakistan by five wickets in the final, and did not collect that trophy from Naqvi either.

That presentation was held up for more than an hour and ended the same way, with the players absent.

The men's trophy has since remained at the ACC's office in Dubai. Naqvi has offered to hand it over there; the BCCI has not collected it.

Attention turns to the Asian Games

Head coach Amol Muzumdar said the players were following the board. "That stand has been taken by the BCCI, and we stand by it," he said after the match.

He said the result was what mattered. "The tournament is over. We are the champions, and that's good enough for us," Muzumdar said.

India go to the Asian Games next. "Our goal is to bring home the gold medal, and that is our sole objective," Saikia said.

Athapaththu, whose side lost the title it won in 2024, also pointed to the Games. "We will bounce back. Asian Games is coming up," she said.

For the second time in a year an India team has been named Asia Cup champions without receiving the trophy.

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