New Delhi: India's Asia Cup victory over Pakistan on September 28 has led to extraordinary scenes of political posturing from the country's prime minister to the players and television spectators.

India defeated Pakistan in Dubai by five wickets yesterday. But as has been widely noted by now, Suryakumar Yadav’s team refused to accept the trophy on stage. The reason was the presence of Asian Cricket Council and Pakistan Cricket Board president Mohsin Naqvi – a line of reasoning that comes under question when you think that India had just played against 11 members of the Pakistan team.

Meanwhile, India has also alleged that Naqvi took the trophy and medals, which India refused, back to his hotel.

BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia told the agency ANI, “We decided not to take the trophy from him...But that does not mean he can carry away the trophy and medals. It is very unfortunate, and we expect them to be returned to India at the earliest.”

Because this competition comes in the aftermath of an escalation in India-Pakistan tensions following the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 civilians were killed and India’s retaliatory Operation Sindoor strikes at Pakistani terror bases, the win provided a unique opportunity to even the most senior government functionaries to post messages that many have called "tonedeaf" and "deeply disrespectful".

Leading the pack is prime minister Narendra Modi, who wrote, "Operation Sindoor on the games field. Outcome is the same – India wins! Congrats to our cricketers."

"Equating a cricket win with #OperationSindoor, where our soldiers laid down their lives, is deeply disrespectful. This isn’t just insensitivity, it’s reducing supreme sacrifice of soldiers to a political slogan," wrote a participant on X.

An account called 'Sanatan Dharma' said, "Narendra Modi please don’t trivialise a military operation like #OperationSindoor, where lives of our soldiers were at stake, by equating it with cricket. National security isn’t a metaphor for sports. Show respect to the sacrifices behind that name instead of using it for applause #AsiaCupT20 #AsiaCup #AsiaCupFinal."

In response, reports Times of India, Mohsin Naqvi – whose account is withheld in India – wrote, "If war was your measure of pride, history already records your humiliating defeats at Pakistan's hands. No cricket match can rewrite that truth. Dragging war into sport only exposes desperation and disgraces the very spirit of the game."

The Union home minister, Amit Shah, wrote: "A phenomenal victory. The fierce energy of our boys blew up the rivals again. Bharat is destined to win no matter which field."

Star badminton Olympian P.V. Sindhu shared three images of cricketer Jasprit Bumrah appearing to mimic the downing of jets – ostensibly a reference to Operation Sindoor.

Incredibly, the government of India's citizen engagement platform MyGovIndia also posted Bumrah's hand-plane gesture with the caption "No Caption Needed."

Union minister Kiren Rijiju wrote, "Pakistan deserves such punishment" with the emoji of a punch.

Indian cricketers have, throughout the tournament, refused to shake the hands of their Pakistani counterparts.

In an analysis for The Wire, Sarayu Pani had pertinently noted a week ago, "By converting cricket into a proxy for war against Pakistan, to be sold for commercial consumption, and de-emphasising camaraderie and sportsmanship, the BCCI has rendered cricket useless for the diplomatic purposes it once served so well."

This article went live on September twenty-ninth, two thousand twenty five, at forty-eight minutes past ten in the morning.

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