Asian Cricket Council (ACC) president Mohsin Naqvi is unlikely to be accorded the privilege of presenting the medals to the winner of cricket teams at the Asian Games 2026 in Japan.
Both Indian teams are defending champions at the Asian Games and are favourites to win the gold medal again this year.
Notably, the Asia Cup trophy impasse continued for a second successive year after the victorious Indian women's cricket team declined to accept the trophy from Naqvi last Sunday (September 13).
This move mirrored the stance taken by the Indian men’s cricket team during the 2025 Men's Asia Cup, where they similarly refused to collect the trophy from Naqvi due to heightened tensions following the Pahalgam terror attack and retaliatory Operation Sindoor.
However, a report published in Cricbuzz claims that the trophy row is unlikely to be repeated in Aichi-Nagoya.
According to the report, the one-off T20I match between India and Japan at the Sano International Cricket Ground in Tochigi Prefecture on September 22 is far from being a routine bilateral match as it involved the governments of both countries. The fixture was recently announced to launch the celebrations of the 75th anniversary of India-Japan Diplomatic Relations.
The report further claimed that Japan will not allow any embarrassment for the Indian side and the Naqvi-led ACC will have little say.
“That is my reading,” Cricbuzz quoted a member of the ACC as saying. “I think Japan will not allow it. India’s gesture of playing Japan will not go unacknowledged.”
When asked about the BCCI's stance, board secretary Devajit Saikia recently said: "We are focusing solely on the matches. The teams first have to reach the podium. We will take a call then, taking into account all prevailing factors at that moment. We will cross that bridge when we come to it. The focus of the board and players is only on winning matches. We don't want to comment on anything else that hasn't happened yet."
Meanwhile, a PCB spokesperson indicated that Naqvi's trip to the Asian Games in Japan is unlikely, which may avoid a repeat of the recent trophy standoffs.
“I don’t think so,” the spokesperson replied to a query from Cricbuzz.
A day after the Women’s Asia Cup 2026 final, Saikia had clarified that it was a "firm institutional decision" not to receive the trophy from Naqvi.
“Our position had been communicated to the ACC in advance that the Indian team would not participate in the trophy presentation under the circumstances. Given the circumstances and the sentiments prevailing in the country, the BCCI felt that it would not be appropriate for the team to receive the trophy in the proposed manner,” Saikia had told PTI.
“This was a firm institutional decision, reflective of the position we have maintained, and was not directed at the players, the tournament or the sport,” he added.
