{"id":356908,"date":"2025-09-29T15:06:42","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T09:36:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/?p=356908"},"modified":"2025-09-29T15:06:43","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T09:36:43","slug":"asia-cup-win-and-drama-in-dubai-political-slugfest-back-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/asia-cup-win-and-drama-in-dubai-political-slugfest-back-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Asia Cup: win and drama in Dubai, political slugfest back home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u00a0\u201cAt the beginning of the series, just 15 days ago, he (Yadav) shook hands with Pakistani minister Mohsin Naqvi and even posed for a photo. But when the match was met with protests in India, the players were handed a new script to spread propaganda in the country\u201d: AAP<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo: courtesy social media <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Team India\u2019s refusal to accept the Asia Cup trophy from Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Mohsin Naqvi after winning the series has sparked a political slugfest back home, with AAP and Shiv Sena (UBT) posting videos on social media showing Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav shaking hands with the Pakistani minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BJP praised the Indian team for \u201cputting Pakistan\u2019s chief propagandist in his place,\u201d while AAP accused the BJP-led Centre of handing the players a “new script to spread propaganda in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

India\u2019s victory over Pakistan in the Asia Cup final also drew praise from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who termed the win as \u201cOperation Sindoor\u201d on the games field. \u201cOperation Sindoor on the games field. Outcome is the same \u2013 India wins! Congrats to our cricketers,\u201d PM Modi wrote on X. BJP\u2019s IT cell chief Amit Malviya and other BJP leaders also lauded the Indian players for their decision and said this was a reflection of \u201cNew India.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to reports, while the Indian team refused to receive the award from Naqvi\u2014who also serves as the Asian Cricket Council chairman and Pakistan\u2019s Interior Minister\u2014Naqvi insisted on presenting it. \u201cWe not only slammed Pakistan on the field but also put Naqvi in his place\u2014a chief propagandist for the terror state that Pakistan is,\u201d Malviya posted on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malviya also shared an earlier video of AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj, in which he challenges Suryakumar Yadav to donate his match earnings to the families of those killed in the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. The video then cuts to Yadav announcing, on Sunday night, that he would indeed donate his entire match fees to the families and the armed forces. \u201cThe two-penny AAP MLA, clown of Arvind Kejriwal, had the audacity to challenge Team India\u2019s captain to donate his match fee to the Armed Forces in support of the Pahalgam terror attack victims. Our captain responded in style,\u201d Malviya wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo: courtesy social media <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In response, Bharadwaj shared a video on social media showing Yadav shaking hands with Naqvi. \u201cAt the beginning of the series, just 15 days ago, he (Yadav) shook hands with Pakistani minister Mohsin Naqvi and even posed for a photo. But when the match was met with protests in India, the players were handed a new script to spread propaganda in the country,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut also mocked Yadav, accusing him of hypocrisy before and after the tournament. He shared the same video showing Yadav greeting and posing for a picture with Naqvi before the Asia Cup. \u201cAt the start of the series, 15 days ago, he shook hands and clicked photos with Pakistan\u2019s minister. Now they are putting on a drama of patriotism. If nationalism truly flowed in their blood, they shouldn\u2019t have stepped onto the field against Pakistan,” Raut posted in Hindi on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A day before the final, Raut had also voiced strong objections to India playing cricket against Pakistan, citing terrorism and past attacks. \u201cThis is not the biggest match. It is very bad for India and Pakistan to play in such an environment. When citizens do not want connections with Pakistan, why play cricket? Nationalism is missing when money takes over. Even if rivers of blood flow, we will play cricket. But this time, people don\u2019t even want to watch the match on TV,\u201d he had said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, Suryakumar Yadav announced he would donate his entire match fee from the Asia Cup to the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack and the Indian Armed Forces. \u201cI have decided to donate my match fees from this tournament to support our Armed Forces and the families of the victims who suffered in the Pahalgam terror attack. You always remain in my thoughts. Jai Hind,\u201d Yadav posted on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Yadav\u2019s announcement, Bharadwaj\u2019s earlier challenge went viral on social media. In the video, Bharadwaj is seen saying: “Suryakumar Yadav, if you have the ability, we challenge you to give the money you have earned\u2026 to the widows of the Pahalgam victims.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u00a0\u201cAt the beginning of the series, just 15 days ago, he (Yadav) shook hands with Pakistani minister Mohsin Naqvi and even posed for a photo. But when the match was met with protests in India, the players were handed a new script to spread propaganda in the country\u201d: AAP Team India\u2019s refusal to accept the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":187,"featured_media":356910,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2519,1801,14422],"tags":[16178,16188,17499,16742,15700,16061,16089,17039],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356908"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/187"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356908"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":356912,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356908\/revisions\/356912"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/356910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}