In an encore of the 2025 Men’s Asia Cup, the triumphant Indian team did not accept the winner’s trophy for the 2026 Women’s Asia Cup.
“Trophy is a controversial thing in the Asia Cup”
India beat Sri Lanka by 72 runs in the final to win the 2026 Women’s Asia Cup. After Smriti Mandhana (59 in 39 balls) and Shafali Verma (68 in 39) put on 129 for the opening wicket in a mere 12.5 overs, Sri Lanka pulled things back to restrict India to 183-5. Sri Lanka were never in the race, and were bowled out for a mere 111 as Shree Charani (4-20) and Deepti Sharma (3-19) shared seven wickets.
After the final, the Sri Lanka team received their runners-up medals from Asian Cricket Coucil Chief Mohsin Naqvi, who also heads PCB and is the interior minister of Pakistan. Following that, commentator Farveez Maharoof interviewed Chamari Athapaththu, and the broadcasters cut straight to the studio. The Indian team did not accept their trophies from Naqvi, just like their men’s team had not in 2025.
Read: Wisden’s Asia Cup 2026 Team of the Tournament
“Trophy is a controversial thing in the Asia Cup. Our men’s team won the Asia Cup a year and a half ago. And our whole situation, since the April 2025 Pahalgam incident, the entire situation changed after that. So, after that, there was pressure on us from all our country’s 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,” explained BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia on the morning after the final.
“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. 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.
“We don’t have any regrets. Our ultimate priority and ambition was not to focus on who would give the trophy. We wanted the Indian team to win and we’ve achieved that.”
Watch: On Indian women's cricket team did not accept the Women's Asia Cup trophy from ACC Chair Mohsin Naqvi, BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia says, "Trophy is a controversial thing in the Asia Cup, Our men's team won the Asia Cup a year and a half ago. And our whole situation,… pic.twitter.com/2p5Q6bqS4L
— IANS (@ians_india) September 13, 2026
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