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ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan cricket team has decided to dedicate its Asia Cup final match fees to the “innocent victims” of the May 7 attack launched by India, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Monday, as political tensions continued to dominate the tournament even after it concluded. 

India beat arch-rivals Pakistan by five wickets in the thrilling Asia Cup final on Sunday night. However, controversy ensued after the Indian cricket team refused to accept the trophy from Asian Cricket Council (ACC) President Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the PCB chairman and Pakistan’s interior minister. Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav said at the post-match press conference that India were “denied” the trophy while Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha said India had “disrespected” cricket by their actions.

Tensions dominated the Asia Cup tournament right from its onset, which saw the two arch-rivals meet on the cricket field for the first time after their militaries engaged in a brief confrontation in May this year. Over 70 people were killed on both sides of the border after the two countries targeted each other with fighter jets, artillery fire, drones and missiles. The confrontation began on May 7 after India launched missile and air strikes on multiple sites across Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, saying it had targeted militants. Pakistan denied the allegations, saying only innocent civilians were killed and claimed it shot down six Indian jets in response the same night. 

“The Pakistan Cricket Team has dedicated its Asia Cup final match fees to the innocent victims martyred in the May 7 attack, in which civilians, including children, lost their lives,” the PCB wrote on social media platform X. “Our thoughts and prayers are with their families.”

India’s stance to not accept the Asia Cup trophy from Naqvi was expected well in advance. Indian cricketers had refused to shake hands with Pakistan in any of the three games they played this tournament, either at the toss between the captains or after the matches. 

Pakistan coach Mike Hesson and Agha both criticized India for it but India did not change its position. Things became heated, especially during the second game in the Super Four stage of the cup between the two teams, with several verbal spats between the sides. Yadav was fined for remarks he made following the first game while Pakistan pacer Haris Rauf for his actions in the second.

BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia told Indian news agency ANI that the team had decided not to accept the trophy from Naqvi as he was “one of the main leaders from Pakistan.”

“But that does not mean that the gentleman will take away the trophy with him, along with the medals,” the BCCI official said on Sunday, according to ESPNcricinfo. “So it is very unfortunate and we hope that the trophy and the medals will be returned to India as soon as possible.”

Saikia said the BCCI will lodge “a very serious and very strong protest” at the next ICC conference in Dubai against Naqvi’s actions. 

Karachi: Pakistan is expected to import as much as 7 million bales of cotton this year as devastating floods have washed away hundreds of thousands of acres crops in the South Asian nation, the Karachi Cotton Brokers Forum (KCBF) and other stakeholders said on Sunday.

Pakistan ranks among one of most vulnerable countries to climate change, where recent flash floods have killed more than 1,000 people and inundated major crops like cotton, sugarcane, rice, maize and wheat storages, risking the government’s 4.2 percent economic growth target this fiscal year.

The deluges have damaged approximately 2.5 million acres of all crops that is equivalent to 7.7 percent of Pakistan’s total cultivated area, KCBF Chairman Naseem Usman said, citing a recent presentation of the food security ministry to a parliamentary committee.

The authorities have started assessing the total flood damages as a technical team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is visiting Pakistan to review the government’s performance under its $7 billion loan program and $1.4 billion climate resilience facility.

“Pakistan has already booked about 2 million bales of cotton in advance trade,” Usman told Arab News. “It would have to import five million more bales by the end of this year.”

The KCBF chairman expects Pakistan’s cotton production to range from 6.5 million to 7 million bales due to rain and flood-related damages.

“Our consumption is almost double of what we produce,” Usman said.

He said the initial damage to cotton in Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces was assessed at 223,785 acres. This is around 4 percent of the total cotton crop Pakistan has sown over 5.58 million acres this 2025-26 season, according to the Pakistan Central Cotton Committee.

But officials at the national food security ministry say these numbers are not final.

“Officials from concerned provincial ministries and other institutions would meet again and try to build consensus on flood damages data,” a national food security ministry official, who requested anonymity, told Arab News, adding the data gathered so far from various sources had “big gaps.”

Kamran Arshad, chairman of the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA), said the millers would require 12 million bales of cotton this year but it would be too early to cite a number for the amount of cotton they would need to import.

“There is a damage to the cotton crop for sure,” Arshad told Arab News. “We will have a better estimate by end October or early November.”

Shankar Talreja, head of research at Karachi-based Topline Securities brokerage and market research firm, said the country will need to import more than 6 million cotton bales to supply raw material to its textile industry, which earned $18 billion in the last fiscal year that ended in June.

“Pakistan needs annually over 13-14 million bales and over 30 percent of this would be imported,” the economist told Arab News.

This, he said, will put pressure on Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves which, according to the State Bank of Pakistan, have stagnated at $14 billion for the last three months since June 26.

In a separate report, Topline Securities increased its growth forecast for Pakistan’s imports to 10 percent from its earlier estimates of 9 percent, especially non-oil imports, which are expected to grow 16 percent this fiscal year. It said Pakistan’s current account deficit would remain largely unchanged at 0-0.5 percent of GDP.

“However, we expect the [current account] number to reach at top side of our previous expected range,” the report said.