India's Women's Asia Cup Final: Trophy Controversy Looms
The Women’s Asia Cup is heading for a familiar kind of storm. Different tournament, different team at centre stage – but the same trophy, the same man, and the same question.
Will India take it from Mohsin Naqvi’s hands?
Naqvi back in the spotlight
According to Geo Super, PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi is set to attend the Women’s Asia Cup final on September 13 as the chief guest for the closing ceremony. That role usually comes with one defining image: the chief guest handing over the trophy to the champions under the glare of every camera in the ground.
If form holds, those champions are expected to be India.
Harmanpreet Kaur’s side has marched into the semi-finals without dropping a game, brushing past Thailand, Hong Kong and then dismantling Pakistan. On current evidence, India are not just contenders; they are the standard.
Yet the cricket might again share the stage with politics and principle. With Naqvi likely to be the one holding the silverware, the decision over whether India accept it from him could turn the post-match ceremony into a sequel nobody in the ACC office wanted.
A trophy still sitting in Dubai
This is not a hypothetical built on whispers. There is a very real, very shiny precedent.
Last year, India beat Pakistan in the Men’s Asia Cup final. The cricket had done its part. The winning runs were scored, the players celebrated, and the world waited for the usual procession: medals, handshakes, trophy lift.
It never came. Not in the way anyone expected.
The post-match presentation was delayed by more than an hour as discussions rumbled on behind the scenes over who would hand over the trophy. Naqvi, then as now, was at the heart of it. India made their position clear: they would not take the trophy from him.
So the Suryakumar Yadav-led side climbed the podium, celebrated, posed for photos – but without the Asia Cup in their hands. The title was theirs on paper and in memory, but the physical trophy never left ACC control. It still sits in the ACC office in Dubai, a symbol of a standoff that outlasted the floodlights.
That saga drew sharp reactions across the cricket world. Nasser Hussain, among others, slammed the PCB and accused it of turning Pakistan’s situation into a “laughingstock”. The fallout has not faded as quickly as a scorecard.
India cruising, questions looming
This time, it is the women’s team walking into the same frame.
On the field, they could hardly be better placed. India opened their campaign by beating Thailand, then thrashed Hong Kong, and saved their most ruthless work for Pakistan. Fatima Sana’s side folded for just 55 in Dubai, bundled out by an Indian attack that never let them breathe. The chase was a formality, completed with seven wickets in hand.
Along the way, Smriti Mandhana added another layer to the story of this tournament, becoming the leading run-scorer in women’s internationals and overtaking Mithali Raj – a landmark that underlines just how dominant this generation is becoming.
India look like a team built for finals. Kaur’s leadership is settled, the batting order is stacked with experience and intent, and the bowling unit has shown it can suffocate opponents in Asian conditions. They have already booked their place in the semi-finals with a perfect record.
What they have not booked is their stance on the podium.
Silence from the board, noise to come
For now, the BCCI has kept its counsel. There has been no public indication of what the women’s team will do if they win the Asia Cup and find Naqvi waiting with the trophy.
Do they follow the path laid down by the men last year and refuse the handover, even if it means another awkward, drawn-out ceremony? Or does this team choose a different route, take the silverware, and let the cricket speak louder than the politics?
Naqvi’s presence guarantees that the final will not end with the last ball. The cameras will linger, the microphones will crowd, and every gesture on that podium will be dissected.
India’s women have already seized control of this tournament with bat and ball. The real intrigue now is whether they will be asked to make a stand that goes far beyond the boundary rope – and if the next Asia Cup trophy also ends up locked away in an office, instead of in the hands of the players who earned it.
