BCCI Ashish Shelar walks out of ACC meeting over Asia Cup trophy dispute with PCB Chief Mohsin Naqvi

Ashish Shelar, an ex-officio member and representative of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), walked out of an Asian Cricket Council (ACC) online meeting on Wednesday. He did so in protest after failing to get clarity on when India would receive the Asia Cup trophy and medals following their victory over Pakistan in Sunday’s final.

According to sources, Indian officials raised the issue with Mohsin Naqvi, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and president of the ACC – but were not given a satisfactory response.

Add Cricket Country as a Preferred Source

“Shelar informed members that the BCCI secretary Devajit Sakia has already written to ACC about the same but there has been no response. The BCCI wants the trophy and medals to be delivered to ACC’s office in Dubai from where the Indian board will get it collected. However, Shelar didn’t get a positive response for the same. So Shelar and Shukla decided to quit the meeting marking their protest,” a top BCCI official told The Indian Express. He also went on to add that Naqvi, in his opening speech, didn’t extend his congratulations to the Indian officials for winning the title.

The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting took place just days after a controversial incident during the tournament, where Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav appeared to decline a handshake with Pakistani skipper Salman Agha at the toss. Following India’s victory in the final, the team refused to accept the Asia Cup trophy from ACC President and PCB Chief Mohsin Naqvi during the post-match presentation. This came after Naqvi reportedly denied a formal request from the Indian team regarding the timing and handover of the trophy and medals.

“We didn’t close the door and sit inside the dressing room. We didn’t make anyone wait for the presentation ceremony. Trophy leke bhaag gaye woh (They ran away with the trophy). That’s what I saw. I don’t know, some people were making a video of us, but we were standing. We didn’t go inside,” the 34-year-old said.