When will Mohsin Naqvi’s term as Asian Cricket Council president end?
Pakistan’s Mohsin Naqvi is the current chief of the Asian Cricket Council and the centre of an enduring controversy in the Asia Cup tournament across both genders.
Since India and Pakistan’s military tensions escalated after the terror attack in Pahalgam and the following Operation Sindoor campaign in 2025, the Indian national teams have played and won the two senior Asia Cups. The Men won the 2025 edition beating Pakistan in the final but refused to receive the trophy from Naqvi, who is also the Interior Minister in Pakistan’s Government.
Post-match proceedings turned chaotic. Pakistan players delayed the presentation ceremony for more than an hour after the final ball. India, led by captain Suryakumar Yadav, then refused to accept the trophy from Naqvi.
Once the ceremony ended, the Indian players celebrated instead with the champion’s banner. Adding a touch of humour, Suryakumar carried an “imaginary” trophy and mimicked Rohit Sharma’s slow walk from the 2024 T20 World Cup final.
The squad followed up with mock trophy lifts for the fans and cameras before resuming celebrations in the dressing room. Several players later shared photoshopped images of themselves holding a trophy on social media.
At the post-match press conference, Suryakumar expressed disbelief at the snub. “This is one thing which I have never seen since I started playing and following cricket. That a champion team is denied a trophy, that too a hard-earned one. I feel we deserved it, and I can’t say anything more. My trophies are sitting in my dressing room, all the 14 guys with me, all the support staff, those are the real trophies,” he said.
Naqvi then left the venue with the Asia Cup trophy to the ACC office in Dubai.
A few months later, Naqvi awarded the winner’s medals and trophy to Pakistan after the final of the Under-19 Asia Cup 2025 against India.
There was no Indian representative at the trophy presentation. Ayush Mhatre received the runner’s-up cheque from Mirwais Ashraf, the chairman of the Afghanistan Cricket Board.
The Indian women’s team, which beat Sri Lanka in the Women’s Asia Cup 2026 final, also refused to accept the trophy from Naqvi, mirroring the decision of their male counterparts from a year ago.
A long delay ensued from the end of the match, where India won by 72 runs, after which the team huddled up by the boundary ropes with BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia and vice president Rajiv Shukla joining them. After a long chat, the Indian team returned to the dressing room, never to come out again.
The presentation ceremony involved Sri Lanka receiving the runner-up cheque and medals with no announcements of match awards and the much-awaited celebration with the trophy, which India had reclaimed from Sri Lanka which beat them two years ago in the final in Dambulla.
The standoff in continental events involving Naqvi has cast a shadow on two Indian triumphs now and is expected to endure as long as Naqvi is at the helm of the Asian Cricket Council.
The ACC chief’s term is a two-year role after which the council follows a rotation and will nominate someone new to the post. Before Naqvi, India’s Jay Shah, who is now the ICC Chair, held the post for four years becoming the ACC’s longest serving chief.
Shah had taken over the reins of the ACC in January 2021 from Nazmul Hassan, then the chief of Bangladesh’s Cricket Board. His term was then extended till 2024 with other members unanimously backing his stay at the top of Asian Cricket. The position then went to Pakistan’s Naqvi who was elected to the role and took charge in 2025.
Going by the two year rotation in place at the ACC, Naqvi’s term ends in April 2027.
Published on Sep 14, 2026