On Sunday, Harmanpreet Kaur’s Indian team beat Sri Lanka by 72 runs to clinch the title at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. There was no silverware for the winners as they refused to walk up on stage to receive it from Asian Cricket Council (ACC) chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who also heads the Pakistan Cricket Board and is the interior minister of Pakistan. When asked what she felt about the decision to stay away from the presentation, former India women’s skipper Diana Edulji said, “It’s a BCCI decision and we should follow it.”

Reacting to India’s win in Dubai, Edulji put things in perspective. “We won, but there was no competition for us. Even then, except for the openers and our bowlers, who did well, we were found wanting in the middle-order. The middle order issues have to be sorted out. We need a proper No. 3. We can’t keep rotating. Sometimes Deepti [Sharma] comes up the order. At times, she’s batting very low in the order. Roles have to be... [defined] and say ‘this is your role and you have to do this’. Luckily our bowlers are able to win matches,” said Edulji, who called for a change in captaincy. “We are holding back Smriti Mandhana for a long time. By the time the next World Cup comes along, Harman [37] will be nearing 40, so let’s give a good run to Smriti and look at two youngsters as vice-captains. My humble request to Harman would be to let people ask why and not why not,” added Edulji. Harmanpreet’s run of scores at the Asia Cup was 5, 10, 18*, 24*, and a run-a-ball 14 in Sunday’s final.