Team India refuse to accept winner’s trophy from Pakistan minister and ACC chief Mohsin Naqvi
Dubai, Sep 28: Tilak Varma, the sinewy left-hander from the city of Nizams, produced a heady cocktail of chutzpah and discretion to guide India to their ninth Asia Cup title, following a five-wicket win over arch-rivals Pakistan in a thrilling final here on Sunday.
Needing 10 off the last over, Tilak deposited the controversial trouble monger Haris Rauf into mid-wicket stands before Rinku Singh, getting his first hit of the tournament, sent the Indian fans into delirium with a winning boundary.
Having slumped to 20 for three inside first five overs, Tilak (69 not out off 53 balls) was composed and audacious in equal measure with Sanju Samson (24) and Shivam Dube (33 off 21 balls ) proving to be brilliant support casts as India chased down 147 in 19.4 overs.
If Kuldeep Yadav (17 wickets in all) wreaked havoc that saw Pakistan lose their last nine wickets for a mere 33 runs, Tilak displayed unusual calm after the team suffered its first top-order collapse. He added 57 with Samson and another 64 runs with Dube to continue India’s supremacy against Pakistan across white ball formats in the past few years.
India refuse to take trophy from Naqvi
Asia Cup champions India on Sunday refused to accept the winners’ trophy from ACC chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who also happens to be Pakistan’s interior minister and chairman of the country’s cricket board.
As Naqvi stood on one side for the presentation ceremony to begin, Indian players were standing within 15 yards, refusing to budge from their places and the formalities were being inordinately delayed.
The Indian team management asked who was supposed to present the winners’ trophy and ACC went into a huddle knowing that their boss wasn’t an acceptable name for the champions.
Once Naqvi took the stage, Indian fans in the stands started booing collectively with chants of “Bharat Maata Ki Jai”. Someone from organisers took the trophy inside the dressing room. (PTI)
