'Asia Cup trophy at ACC office; instruction from Naqvi not to move without his approval'
Lahore (PTI): The Asia Cup trophy, which was not presented to the victorious Indian team after its refusal to accept it from Asian Cricket Council chief Mohsin Naqvi, has been locked away at the ACC's Dubai headquarters with "instructions that it should not be moved or handed over" without the Chairman's approval.
The trophy has been at the ACC office after Naqvi walked away with it from the presentation ceremony following the Indian team's refusal to accept it from him. India beat Pakistan in the Asia Cup final in Dubai on September 28.
Naqvi is also the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman and the Interior Minister of his country and India-Pakistan tensions have hit a peak after the Pahalgam terror attack.
"As of today the trophy is still in ACC offices in Dubai with clear intructions from Naqvi that it should not be moved or handed over to anyone without his approval and in person presence," a source close to Naqvi told PTI.
"Naqvi has given clear instructions that only he will hand over the trophy in person (whenever that happens) to the Indian team or BCCI," he added.
The entire Asia Cup was overshadowed by Indo-Pak hostilities. The Indians refused to shake hands with the arch foes throughout the tournament and players from both sides mocked each other with politically charged gestures.
Naqvi too made political statements on his social media pages.
The BCCI took strong exception to his act of walking away with the trophy and vowed to raise the matter in an ICC meeting next month. It is being widely speculated that a strong move to get Naqvi censured and even removed as Director in the ICC could be made.
"It remains to be seen what will be the long term ramifications for the PCB or Naqvi because the BCCI is clear he (Naqvi) didn't have any right to insist on handing the trophy himself to the Indian team and refusing to send it to the BCCI who were official hosts of the event," the source said.
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Prasidh, Kuldeep limit South Africa to 270 after De Kock's hundred
Visakhapatnam (PTI): India fought back gallantly through Prasidh Krishna and Kuldeep Yadav after Quinton de Kock struck his 23rd hundred, keeping South Africa to a manageable 270 in the third and series-deciding final ODI, here Saturday.
India won the toss after judging the spin of the coin incorrectly 20 times in a row. They had little hesitation in inserting the Proteas into bat, a clear indication of dew factor dominating the thought.
After Arshdeep Singh sent back Ryan Rickelton early, De Kock (106, 89b, 8x4, 6x4) struck his seventh century against India and put on 113 runs off 124 balls with skipper Temba Bavuma (48, 67b) as the visitors moved to a healthy position.
De Kock was severe on Prasidh (4/66), who erred on length continuously in his first spell (2-0-27-0). The left-hander biffed the pacer for 6, 6, 4 in his second over to milk 18 runs.
The 32-year-old quickly pounced on anything that was short, and pacers Prasidh and Harshit offered him plenty of feed on his pet areas.
Bavuma was more sedate, and made runs through those typical dabs and jabs, occasionally unfurling a drive of elan.
De Kock moved to fifty in 42 balls, and never let the tempo down reaching his hundred in 79 balls.
India found temporary relief when Ravindra Jadeja induced a false slash from Bavuma to get caught by Virat Kohli at point.
The tourists got another move on through a 54-run partnership between De Kock and Matthew Breetzkle for the third wicket, and at 168 for two in 28 overs they were in a good position to press on.
But Breetzke's punishment of part-time spinner Tilak Varma forced a rethink in the Indian camp, as skipper KL Rahul brought back Prasidh for a second spell.
What a masterstroke it turned out to be! The Karnataka man broke the back of South Africa’s top and middle order in an exceptional second spell (4-0-11-3).
Breetzke was the first man to go, trapped plumb in front with a straight one and four balls later Aiden Markram uppishly chipped a fuller delivery to Kohli at short covers.
Prasidh soon castled De Kock, whose ugly cross-batted swipe failed to connect a full length delivery from the pacer.
All of a sudden, SA found themselves at a shaky 199 for five, losing three wickets in the space of three overs.
Once Prasidh was done away with the top and middle-order, left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep (4/41) took over and mopped up the tail as SA fell short of even a par total on this track.
