Suryakumar Yadav and Abhishek Sharma address the press conference after India's Asia Cup win over Pakistan. (PHOTO: Screengrab via YouTube)India captain Suryakumar Yadav said he has never seen an instance where a ‘champion team is not given the trophy’ and insisted his side ‘deserved’ to get it after beating Pakistan in a tense Asia Cup final in Dubai on Sunday night.
India defeated Pakistan by five wickets to emerge as the continental champions the team refused to accept the trophy from the Asia Cricket Council (ACC) chief Mohsin Naqvi, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman who is also the country’s Interior Minister. With Naqvi insisting that he would give away the trophy, the ceremony was delayed by over an hour before it wound up without a trophy presentation.
In a charged-up post-match press conference, Yadav was asked about the dramatic scenes after the match, where the Indian players celebrated their win without receiving the trophy or medals, and about the timeline of events. Yadav was also asked about his poor form.
Excerpts from the interaction:
Reporter: Can you talk about your feelings after not getting the trophy after winning the tournament?
Suryakumar Yadav: I think this is one thing which I have never seen since I started playing cricket, since I started following cricket, that a champion team is denied a trophy, I mean that too a hard earned one. It’s not like it happened easily, but it was a hard earned tournament. We were here (in Dubai) since 4th (September), played a game today, two back-to-back good games in two days. I feel we deserved it, and I can’t say anything more, I think I have summed it up really well. And if you tell me about the trophies, my trophies are sitting in my dressing room, all the 14 guys with me, all the support staff, those are the real trophies, who I have been a big fan of throughout this journey of Asia Cup, since we came here, and we played this tournament, we started our preparations, I think those are the real trophies, real moments, which I am taking back as lovely memories, which will stay with me forever, going forward and that’s all.
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Reporter: You became the champions today and played a good game, but the question is that in this entire tournament, your behavior with the Pakistan team, you did not shake hands, then you did not do a photo session for the trophy, then you did a political press conference… Do you think that you are the first captain in the history of cricket who has brought politics into cricket?
Suryakumar Yadav: You are getting angry… (laughs) I didn’t understand your questions, you asked four questions together.
Reporter: The whole country is astonished that the team did not get the trophy after winning the match. What is your message to them…
Suryakumar Yadav: You haven’t seen the trophy? I brought it, the team was sitting on the podium, and Abhishek (Sharma) and Shubman (Gill) have already posted a photo with the trophy, it’s looking so good! After such a good campaign, after playing such a good cricket, so celebration is necessary, if you wouldn’t have come to our dressing room, you would have got to know about the atmosphere.
Reporter: Do you think India won but the sport lost because you did not get the trophy?
Suryakumar Yadav: You have said it all, India has won, so let’s see on the positive side, what good things have happened.
Reporter: What was the chain of events, we don’t know anything officially.
Suryakumar Yadav: You know everything.
Reporter: No, you tell us what happened and how.
Suryakumar Yadav: Where?
Reporter: After the match.
Suryakumar Yadav: Rinku Singh hit a four…
Reporter: No, after that.
Suryakumar Yadav: India won the Asia Cup.
Reporter: After the presentation?
Suryakumar Yadav: After that, we came out and celebrated. We clapped for every player’s achievement, whistled. Tilak (Verma), Kuldeep (Yadav)… Bhai (Abhishek Sharma) got a car, we celebrated that too. So, what else can one want? This was the chain of events. And we saw the champion’s board was brought out and taken back in, we saw that too. But it’s okay, it’s part of life. Take it in a stride and move on.
Reporter: …the BCCI has made an official mail to the ACC (Asian Cricket Council) that we don’t want to take a trophy from Mohsin Naqvi. Is this official or is it your individual decision?
Suryakumar Yadav: No, no, I don’t know what you are saying about the email, I don’t have any idea about this. We took this call on the ground, no one told us to do this. And we were waiting, I think if you win the tournament, you play so well throughout the tournament, if you win, do you deserve the trophy or not? You only tell.
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