BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia has claimed that PCB chief and ACC president Mohsin Naqvi walked away with the Asia Cup 2025 trophy and individual medals of the champion team after Team India refused to accept the silverware from him at the post-match ceremony.

Saikia made it clear that the BCCI the Indian board be registering a protest against Naqvi at the ICC meeting later this year.

Notably, the Men in Blue defeated Pakistan by five wickets to clinch their record-extending ninth continental crown on Sunday (September 28) at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

However, the triumph was overshadowed by bizarre scenes at the presentation ceremony, where the Suryakumar Yadav-led side refused to accept the trophy from Naqvi, who is also Pakistan's interior minister.

"We have decided not to take the Asia Cup 2025 trophy from the ACC chairman, who happens to be one of the main leaders of Pakistan. So we decided not to take it from him. But that does not mean that the gentleman will take away the trophy with him, along with the medals. So it is very unfortunate and we hope that the trophy and the medals will be returned to India as soon as possible...There is an ICC conference in November in Dubai. In the next conference, we are going to launch a very serious and very strong protest against the act of the ACC chairperson," Saikia told ANI.

Saikia also reacted to the Indian PM Narendra Modi’s social media post, “#OperationSindoor on the games field. Outcome is the same – India wins! Congrats to our cricketers”.

“Our armed forces have delivered it in the border area, now the same thing has been repeated in Dubai. So this is an excellent moment, a momentous occasion for Indian cricket … It was Operation Sindoor earlier and now it is Operation Killa. So it is an extremely befitting reply to all the nonsense activities done by some of the hostile country persons. So I don’t think there can be a better reply to this occasion on the grand occasion of the final Dubai match,” the BCCI official said.

He also clarified the Indian board’s stance on playing Pakistan. “BCCI has followed the spirit and the policy formulated by the Government of India regarding all games.So when it is a bilateral tournament, India is not going to play against Pakistan or any other hostile country. And the BCCI has been doing it for the last 12 to 15 years. The Government has said that in multinational tournaments, whether it is cricket or football, we have to play. Otherwise, the federation will be banned by international federations. So we followed the policy of the Central Government.”

Coming to the Asia Cup 2025 final, India were reduced to 20/3 inside the powerplay in their chase of 147. However, Tilak Varma and Sanju Samson steadied the ship by adding 57 runs for the fourth wicket.

Samson was dismissed for 24, but Tilak (69* off 53) stayed till the end to take his team over the line with two deliveries to spare. Shivam Dube (33 off 22) also returned with a stunning cameo to put India on the brink of victory, while Rinku Singh (4*) hit the winning boundary.