Devajit Saikia, the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), revealed that the “ice has been broken now” with Asian Cricket Council (ACC) chief Mohsin Naqvi in regards to the Asia Cup
trophy dispute. The 56-year-old spoke about the matter after an informal meeting with Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the Pakistan Interim Minister and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief, on the sidelines of the recent International Cricket Council (ICC) quarterly meeting on November 7 in Dubai.
Notably, the Indian cricket team refused to take the Asia Cup trophy from Mohsin Naqvi on September 28 after defeating Pakistan in the final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in a last over thriller. The decision was made by the Indian officials due to the sour political relationship between both the countries following the cross border skirmish in the northern states in May in the aftermath of Pahalgam terror attack a month earlier, which had caused the Indian Premier League (IPL) to alter its schedule in the middle of the tournament.
In his statement to the PTI news agency, Devajit Saikia addressed the fruitful talks with Mohsin Naqvi in regards to receiving the Asia Cup trophy on behalf of the winning Indian cricket team. He was quoted as saying, “I was a part of both the informal and formal meeting of the ICC. PCB chairperson Mohsin Naqvi was also present. During the course of a formal meeting, it was not on agenda but ICC facilitated a meeting between myself and the PCB chief separately in the presence of a senior ICC office-bearer and another senior official. It was really good to start the process of negotiation.”
The ice has been broken now, so various options will be worked out: Devajit Saikia
“Both sides will work out something to solve the issue at the earliest. The ice has been broken now, so various options will be worked out. There will be options from the other side as well and we will also give options on how to settle this issue and come to an amicable solution,” he added. With that, the fans can hope that Team India will receive the Asia Cup trophy sooner rather than later, especially since it was hard earned by them a couple of months ago.
Whether the Men in Blue will be able to celebrate as a group with the Asia Cup trophy is unknown but nobody can take away the victory from them regardless of anything.
