The deadlock over the Asia Cup trophy, which is yet to reach champions India, continues to be unresolved as the Asian Cricket Council’s Pakistani head Mohsin Naqvi has refused to part with it despite a fresh missive from the BCCI, backed by boards of Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.

A top ACC source told PTI that Naqvi has insisted that a BCCI representative collect the trophy from him at the body’s headquarters in Dubai but the Indian board has rejected that stance. The BCCI has reiterated that it will raise this matter in an ICC meeting next month.

“The BCCI secretary (Devajit Saikia), BCCI’s ACC representative Rajeev Shukla and representatives of other member boards including Sri Lanka Cricket and Afghanistan had written to the ACC president last week over handing the trophy to India,” the ACC source said.

Alleging that draws have been “neatly arranged” to ensure India-Pakistan clashes in ICC tournaments for “economic needs”, former England captain Michael Atherton has called for a complete halt to cricket between the two bitter rivals as sport has become a “proxy for broader tensions and propaganda”.

In a scathing column for  The Times, Atherton cited the recent “antics” at the Asia Cup where the Indian team refused to shake hands with Pakistani players and the Asian Cricket Council’s Pakistani head Mohsin Naqvi walked away with the winner’s trophy after the Indians refused to accept it from him.

“India and Pakistan have played each other in the group stage of every ICC event since 2013, which includes three 50-over World Cups, five T20 World Cups and three Champions Trophy,” Atherton said.

“That is regardless of whether the initial stage has been a single round robin – part of the motivation for which is the inevitability of an India versus Pakistan fixture – or multi-group, when the draws have been neatly arranged to ensure the fixture goes ahead,” he added.

India veteran spinner Kuldeep Yadav revealed that bowling in the Duleep Trophy before the Asia Cup 2025 helped him to get his rhythm back in the mega event. Kuldeep Yadav was the pick of the bowlers against Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2025 summit clash at Dubai International Stadium in Dubai. 

Notably, the 30-year-old veteran spinner was part of India’s squad for the five-Test match series of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025, but he was unable to feature in the playing XI as the management decided to feature with more batting options. 

Kuldeep ended his Asia Cup 2025 campaign as the highest wicket-taker with 17 scalps in nine outings of the tournament. His best figures of the tournament were 4/7 against the UAE in Dubai. After India’s five-wicket win against Pakistan in the title decider, the Uttar Pradesh-born spinner told Rinku Singh in a candid chat that skipper Suryakumar Yadav backed him a lot. 

“I don’t have fixed goals and I have only one motivation to perform well for the team whenever I get a chance. When you are out of cricketing action, you need rhythm. That was important to me, and I played the Duleep Trophy where I bowled a lot, so when I came in Dubai for the Asia Cup, I got my rhythm. My role was to bowl in the middle over and control the run flow. The captain backed me a lot in this, thanks to the captain” Kuldeep Yadav told Rinku Singh on a video shared by BCCI.