Asia Cup Row: PCB chief Naqvi says willing to hand over trophy to India in a ceremony on Nov 10

Synopsis

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Mohsin Naqvi will personally hand over the Asia Cup trophy to India during a ceremony planned for November 10 in Dubai. The BCCI and other ACC members are involved in this dispute. The International Cricket Council will likely address the issue. Tensions remain high between the BCCI and PCB.

The BCCI and Pakistan Cricket Board are headed for a showdown at next month's ICC meeting as PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi is not budging from his stance of personally handing over the Asia Cup trophy to India in his capacity as head of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC).

In the reply sent to the BCCI and other ACC member nations, Naqvi has insisted that he is willing to organise a ceremony on November 10 in Dubai, where a representative of the BCCI and any available Indian team player can take the trophy from him.

"The ACC trophy rightly belongs to the Indian cricket team and is being held in trust till such time that a BCCI office holder along with any available participating player can collect the same from the ACC President," Naqvi wrote in his reply.

"Such collection would of course be accompanied with much fanfare and coverage as there should be no deviation from established practices and no precedent should be set which undermines the spirit of the game we all love."

The ICC is headed by former BCCI secretary Jay Shah.

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Naqvi's reply came after the BCCI's fresh missive to the ACC on the Asia Cup trophy fiasco, which was backed by boards of Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.

The response clearly indicates the level of mistrust and tensions between the BCCI and PCB.

"...as regards the remainder of your letter, slanderous as it may be and digressing as it does from the same values you highlighted, the office of the ACC President will not indulge in petty politics that is aimed to pacify select extremist groups," the reply further reads.

"The true state of affairs is that there was never any official communication shared with ACC office or the Tournament Director highlighting any position or concern of the BCCI with respect to prize distribution ceremony.

"It was only when the Ceremony was about to take place and distinguished guests had taken their place on the stage that the BCCI's representative conveyed that the Indian Cricket Team would not be receiving the Asla Cup Trophy and awards. Efforts were made to find a solution to the impasse which resulted in an inordinate delay."

"The ACC president waited along with the distinguished guests for approximately 40 minutes to ensure that the integrity of the presentation ceremony was preserved and was not adversely affected by politics, but in vain," the reply added.

A reliable source in the PCB said that the legal department of the board had already been instructed to prepare a dossier in case the BCCI officials move to have Naqvi censured at the ICC board meeting, an indication of which has already been given by the BCCI if the trophy fiasco is not resolved at the earliest.

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