Indian leader Suryakumar Yadav said he had never ever seen a champion side denied a well-earned trophy, after his team won a nail-biter Asia Cup 2025 final against Pakistan on Sunday, September 28, in Dubai. However, the right-hand batter said he was not disappointed by the chain of events that unfolded.
Notably, India declined to collect the Continental Cup Trophy from Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and Asian Cricket Council (ACC) chairman Mohsin Naqvi in the post-match presentations. What followed next was even more shocking, as the PCB Chair presented trophies and winners' medals, leaving Suryakumar & Co. without being honored.
"This is one thing which I have never seen since I started playing cricket, since I have started following cricket, that a champion team is denied a trophy," Suryakumar said. "That too is a hard-earned one; it's not like we got it easily. It was a hard-earned tournament. We were here since the 4th [of September], having played two back-to-back good games. I feel we deserved it. I can't say anything more. I think I have summed it up really well. I can't say anything more about it.
"We can't say we were disappointed. But if you see, we had a lot of smiles on our faces as we were on the ground enjoying the moment on the podium," he added.
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Decision to not take trophy from PCB Chairman taken by players: Suryakumar
Notably, the India skipper further went on to state that the decision not to receive the trophy from Naqvi had been taken by players themselves and not administrators. The veteran also said he was unaware of any official communication between the BCCI and ACC regarding presentation.
"I have no idea about this [any communication between BCCI and ACC]. We took this call on the ground. No one told us to do this," Suryakumar said.
Asked to open up about the chain of events that led India to not accept the Asia Cup from PCB & ACC Chairman, Surya chose to avoid the controversy.
"Rinku Singh hit a four. India won the Asia Cup. After that, we came out and we were celebrating and we applauded every player's achievement. Tilak, Kuldeep, and Abhishek got a car. We celebrated that too. So, what more do you want? This was the chain of events that we wanted to achieve.
"And we also saw that the champions' (flexi) board came and went back. We saw that too. It's okay. It keeps on happening. It's a part of life."
Before leaving the press conference, Surya also announced he would be donating match earnings from the event to the Indian Armed Forces.
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"As a gesture, I want to donate my match fees from all the games in this tournament to the Indian Army," he said, later clarifying in a tweet that he meant the "Indian Armed Forces."
"I don't know if people will call it controversial, but for me, it's the right thing to do."
