DUBAI (Reuters) -India captain Suryakumar Yadav said his side had been denied the chance to hoist the Asia Cup trophy on Sunday after it was removed from the presentation ceremony following their refusal to accept it from Pakistan's interior minister Mohsin Naqvi.
India beat Pakistan by five wickets in the final at Dubai International Stadium with emotions running high between the sides following a brief military conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours in May.
The teams met three times at the tournament, with Indian players refusing to shake hands with their opponents throughout, and Sunday's final ended in bizarre circumstances with India celebrating their win by hoisting an imaginary trophy.
"I think this is one thing which I've never seen since I started playing cricket and started following cricket, that a champion team is denied a trophy, and that too a hard-earned one," Suryakumar told reporters.
"I feel we deserved it. I can't say anything more, I've summed it up really well.
"My trophies are sitting in the dressing room, all the 14 guys with me, the support staff, those are the real trophies throughout this journey in the Asia Cup."
Indian batsman Tilak Varma anchored his team's chase with an unbeaten 69 in reply to Pakistan's 146 all out but the action on the field was overshadowed by the drama off it.
The start of the presentation ceremony was delayed by more than an hour and then cut short just before the winner's trophy was to be handed out with Naqvi among those left waiting on the dais.
Indian cricket board (BCCI) secretary Devajit Saikia confirmed their players had refused to accept the trophy from Asian Cricket Council President Naqvi, who is also the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board.
Local media reported that organisers left the ceremony with the trophy.
Reuters has contacted the Asian Cricket Council for comment.
Suryakumar, who was later pictured picking up an imaginary trophy to celebrate with his team mates on the dais, said all that mattered was that India were champions once again.
"The win is important. If you saw after the match, 'India' was written on the big screen. 'Asia Cup 2025 Champions' ... what's better than this? You play for that," he said.
"It was a great moment. Great journey. Great campaign for us as a team. We had a lot of fun."
Pakistan captain Salman Agha said India had disrespected cricket.
"What India have done in this tournament is disappointing," Agha said.
"They're not disrespecting us by not shaking hands, they're disrespecting cricket. Good teams don't do what they did today. We went to pose with the trophy on our own because we wanted to fulfil our obligations. We stood there and took our medals.
"I don't want to use harsh words but they've been very disrespectful."
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
