The rift between Asian cricket’s biggest rivals resurfaced in Dubai as India opted not to attend the post-match trophy presentation after winning the Women’s Asia Cup.
The favourites cruised to the title as they beat Sri Lanka by 72 runs in front of 16,339 fans at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday night.
The vast majority of supporters were India fans, but they did not get to see Harmanpreet Kaur lift the trophy after she chose not to accept it.
The women’s side followed the lead of their male colleagues, who had done similar at the end of an ill-tempered Men’s Asia Cup last year, during which they had refused to shake hands with Pakistan’s players.
Mohsin Naqvi, who is Pakistan’s Minister of Interior as well as chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, was due to present the trophy on each occasion in his role as president of the Asian Cricket Council.
After the stand-off last year at the end of the men’s event, India’s women’s side also skipped the post-match trophy presentation.
Instead, the ceremony was wrapped up when Chamari Athapaththu, Sri Lanka’s captain, picked up the runners-up cheque.
“That stand has been taken by [the Board of Control for Cricket in India] and we stand by it,” Amol Mazumdar, India’s coach, said.
“For us, this tournament is over. We are the champions. That is good enough. It was on the big board that India are champions of the Asia Cup 2026.
“This tournament is officially over for us and we are happy that we have turned out to be champions. Now we look forward to the Asian Games.”
India had been dominant throughout the competition and crushed the Sri Lankans from the off in the final.
The game was as good as over by the time India’s openers – Smriti Mandhana (59) and Shafali Verma (68) – were finally parted, with the score at 129 in the 13th over.
Sri Lanka managed to limit the damage somewhat thereafter, but India’s eventual total of 183-5 from their 20 overs was always going to be beyond them.
India were just as dominant with the ball, with Shree Charani taking 4-20, and Deepti Sharma 3-19, as the Sri Lankans were bowled out for 111.
“We know [Sri Lanka] are a great team, but we played to our standards,” Harmanpreet said.
“We set high standards for ourselves and we wanted to keep matching them. We are very happy the way we all performed.
“The openers did a great job for us. It was great to see someone like Shafali take responsibility through the tournament with the bat and ball.”
Sri Lanka were unable to reprise the shock they created last time in the Asia Cup, but Athapaththu is confident they will bounce back.
“This is part of the game; one team wins, one team loses,” Athapaththu said.
“We did not play our best game in all three departments. They played very well. But we will bounce back. The Asian Games is coming up, and we will bounce back.”
