Sri Lanka took their medals, and India left the Asia Cup final without the trophy again

Sri Lanka were bowled out for 111 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday night and the big screen declared India the champions of Asia. Then nothing happened for half an hour. When the presentation finally ran, India were not in it, and no winners’ medal went to any of them. The trophy was carried off the podium and taken away.

A presentation with one team in it

The hold-up had the same cause it had a year ago. Mohsin Naqvi, who is president of the Asian Cricket Council, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board and Pakistan’s interior minister, was the man due to hand over the trophy.

Sri Lanka went through with their half of it. Chamari Athapaththu collected the runners-up cheque from Naqvi and her players took their medals. India stayed away from all of it, and the trophy went back into its case with nobody having touched it.

The BCCI had offered two ways around it

Devajit Saikia, the BCCI secretary, set out on Monday what the board had proposed before the final. One option was for Khalid Al Zarooni of the Emirates Cricket Board to present the trophy. The other was for a BCCI representative to do it. Saikia said both were turned down.

“Our government’s policy is clear that we have to play against every country in multinational tournaments,” Saikia said. “This does not mean that we should take the trophy from those who oppose India.”

The position dates to the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack in April 2025. India have kept playing Pakistan and teams from the region in multi-nation events since, while refusing the handshakes and the ceremonies that come with them. Harmanpreet Kaur did not shake Fatima Sana’s hand at the toss earlier in this tournament. Nigar Sultana Joty then aimed the same gesture back at Harmanpreet before the semi-final, and the Bangladesh board spent the following days making clear that was her own idea.

The men’s trophy is still in an office in Dubai

This is the second Asia Cup in a row that India have won and not collected. On 28 September 2025 the men beat Pakistan by five wickets in the final, also in Dubai. India asked for the trophy to come from Khalid Al Zarooni that night too. Naqvi insisted on presenting it himself as ACC president, the stand-off ran past an hour, and the ceremony ended with the trophy going back to the ACC office in Dubai.

It is still there. Suryakumar Yadav was making jokes about it by November 2025, holding up a T20I series trophy in Australia and saying it felt great to finally get to touch one. Almost a year on, India’s men have a title from Dubai and no cup to show for it, and now the women are in the same position.

“We are the champions, that’s good enough”

Amol Muzumdar, India’s head coach, was not interested in treating it as a loss.

“That stand has been taken by BCCI and we stand by it,” he said. “For us, this tournament is over, we are the champions. That’s good enough.”

He came back to the scoreboard when pressed on it. “It was on the big board that India are the champions of Asia Cup 2026. This tournament is officially over for us. We’re happy that we’re the champions and we look forward to the Asian Games.”

The cricket was over early

The match itself was gone by the middle of the chase. Shafali Verma made 68 and Smriti Mandhana 59 in an opening stand of 129, the biggest partnership for any wicket in the history of the Women’s T20 Asia Cup, and India finished on 183 for 5. N Shree Charani took 4 for 20 and Deepti Sharma 3 for 19 as Sri Lanka were bowled out with Chamari Athapaththu’s 36 the best anyone managed. Shafali was Player of the Match and the tournament’s leading run-scorer with 236 runs.

It is India’s eighth Asia Cup title and their fourth in the T20 format. Muzumdar’s side move straight on to the Asian Games in Aichi, where the women’s cricket starts on 17 September and India open their defence of the gold they won in Hangzhou in 2023.

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