The Women’s Asia Cup 2026 has concluded, with the India Women’s National Cricket Team winning their eighth Asia Cup trophy after beating the Sri Lanka Women’s National Cricket Team by 72 runs. After the match, Asian Cricket Council (ACC) president Mohsin Naqvi was present for the trophy distribution, and the women’s team refused to take the trophy.
Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the chief of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), was not reported to be present in the final. However, later on it was reported and seen that he was sitting in the stands alongside the other members of the ACC and also with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officials as well.
India refused to take the trophy from Mohsin Naqvi
Harmanpreet Kaur’s side stood by their decision not to take the trophy from Mohsin Naqvi, who is related to the PCB, as relations between India and Pakistan have been cold in recent times, and thus both teams do not do the customary handshakes between the two captains and also the players for both the Men’s and Women’s teams. This started back in Asia Cup 2025 by the Men’s team.
Similarly, the trend of not receiving the trophy from Mohsin Naqvi, which started back in the Men’s Asia Cup 2025, continued this year as Harmanpreet Kaur’s side won their record eighth title.
Thus, the post-match ceremony ended without handing the trophy to India, and the team instead celebrated on the field amongst themselves, and Naqvi was seen leaving the ground without handing over the trophy.
Why did Harmanpreet Kaur’s side refuse to take the trophy from Mohsin Naqvi?
Things went bitter between the two countries during the Asia Cup 2025, when several Indian citizens were killed by terrorists in Pahalgam, Kashmir, following that India National Cricket Team captain Suryakumar Yadav refused the customary handshake with his Pakistani counterpart Salman Ali Agha during the toss and also post-match. Things turned even more bitter as India refused to take the trophy from Naqvi after winning last year.
It extended past the men’s team to Women’s Cricket, as during India and Pakistan’s match at the Women’s ODI World Cup in Colombo in October 2025, Harmanpreet Kaur and her teammates avoided the usual post-match handshake. Similar things happened in other age-group championships and the 2026 T20 World Cups, and this time also Kaur and Fatima Sana did not shake hands.
India wins record eighth Asia Cup title
Coming to the match, India won the toss and opted to bat first. It was a sensational start from Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma as they scored 129 runs for the first wicket and gave the Women in Blue the start they needed in a final. Shafali was the first to be dismissed on 68 runs, and Smriti was unfortunately run out for 59 runs.
Harmanpreet and Richa Ghosh could not score many runs in the middle overs; a score that was looking to go past 200 runs, it was restricted to 183/5, with Gunalan Kamalini scoring 15 off 5 balls.
Sri Lanka, coming out to chase, lost Imesha Dulani early, and then Chamari Athapaththu scored some runs before she was dismissed for 36 runs; following her wicket, the Sri Lanka batting fell like nine pins as they were bowled out for 111 runs.
