In his role as head of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi is refusing to change his position of personally presenting the Asia Cup trophy to India, setting up a confrontation between the BCCI and Pakistan Cricket Board at next month’s ICC conference.
Naqvi has stated in his response to the BCCI and other ACC member countries that he is prepared to host a ceremony in Dubai on November 10, where a BCCI delegate and any Indian team member who is available can accept the trophy from him.
“The ACC trophy rightly belongs to the Indian cricket team and is being held in trust till such time that a BCCI office holder along with any available participating player can collect the same from the ACC President,” Naqvi wrote in his reply.
“Such collection would of course be accompanied with much fanfare and coverage as there should be no deviation from established practices and no precedent should be set which undermines the spirit of the game we all love.”
Jay Shah, a former BCCI secretary, is in charge of the ICC.
Naqvi responded after the BCCI’s recent letter to the ACC on the Asia Cup trophy disaster, which was supported by the boards of Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.
The degree of hostility and mistrust between the BCCI and PCB is evident from the reaction.
“…as regards the remainder of your letter, slanderous as it may be and digressing as it does from the same values you highlighted, the office of the ACC President will not indulge in petty politics that is aimed to pacify select extremist groups,” the reply further reads.
“The true state of affairs is that there was never any official communication shared with ACC office or the Tournament Director highlighting any position or concern of the BCCI with respect to prize distribution ceremony.
“It was only when the Ceremony was about to take place and distinguished guests had taken their place on the stage that the BCCI’s representative conveyed that the Indian Cricket Team would not be receiving the Asla Cup Trophy and awards. Efforts were made to find a solution to the impasse which resulted in an inordinate delay.” “The ACC president waited along with the distinguished guests for approximately 40 minutes to ensure that the integrity of the presentation ceremony was preserved and was not adversely affected by politics, but in vain,” the reply added.
According to a trustworthy PCB source, if the trophy scandal is not resolved as soon as possible, the BCCI officials have already indicated that the legal department of the board has been directed to prepare a dossier in the event that they attempt to have Naqvi censured at the ICC board meeting.
