New Delhi: As Pakistan rolls out the red carpet for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 on Wednesday, the controversies refuse to stop. A day before the much-awaited tournament, the absence of Indian and Bangladeshi flags at the National Stadium in Karachi sparked a debate online. Some Pakistanis even celebrated the move. They are sure the “meltdown is going to be hilarious”.
“It’s Great! No apologetic stance anymore,” Sajipur Hazara wrote on X, while another user said, “well played PCB”.
The PCB, however, has downplayed the matter, insisting that the flags displayed at the stadiums were only of those teams that are playing in Pakistan.
The Indian team will play all of its matches in Dubai, so their flag, like Bangladesh’s, is notably missing from Pakistan’s stadiums.
In response to the controversy, the PCB dismissed the social media uproar as an attempt to tarnish Pakistan’s image with “fake news” and “ill-intended agendas.”
“As you know, India is not coming to Pakistan to play its matches during the ICC Champions Trophy 2025; the National Stadium in Karachi, Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, and Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore have only hoisted flags of countries that are participating at these venues,” a PCB source told IANS.
Most fans, however, are not convinced.
“Bent over to ICC and BCCI and agreed to India playing matches in UAE, now trying to act tough by not hoisting the Indian flag. Get a life PCB, @MohsinnaqviC42 and whoever is in charge of this s**t show,” an X user wrote.
Others agreed, pointing out that India has kept Pakistan’s name on their Champions Trophy jerseys as a spirit of sportsmanship.
“By that logic, India had no need to write ‘Pakistan’ on their jersey with the Champions Trophy logo since they aren’t traveling to Pakistan,” a person said on X.
The PCB source further said that different stadiums in Pakistan are hosting different teams, and the hoisting of flags is simply a gesture of hospitality to the teams present.
But the drama didn’t stop there.
A massive blunder was spotted by fans when one of the tournament’s promotional posters featured West Indies T20I captain Roman Powell—despite the fact that the West Indies failed to qualify for the 2025 Champions Trophy.
“West indies ka dil rakhnay k liye laga di (They kept West Indies in order not to break their hearts),” Jamal Khan wrote on Instagram.
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Pakistan’s moment in cricket
Despite these hiccups, there’s no denying that the excitement in the air is palpable.
The Champions Trophy marks a major milestone for Pakistan, who hasn’t hosted a global tournament since the 1996 Cricket World Cup. After nearly a decade of isolation following the 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team, Pakistan is finally back on the world stage.
For former cricketers like Inzamam-ul-Haq, the atmosphere is electric.
“Right now, everyone is talking about the Champions Trophy—in schools, houses, markets, offices, everywhere,” Haq told Reuters, ahead of the first match between Pakistan and New Zealand in Karachi on 19 February.
For almost a decade, Pakistan was forced to play its home games in the UAE, with foreign teams reluctant to visit after the 2009 attack. Haq labelled it “a bad dream that took Pakistan cricket backwards”.
But since 2018, Pakistan has slowly started to regain international fixtures on its home soil, and the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 is the culmination of that effort.
The Champions Trophy was discontinued by the ICC after its eighth edition in 2017 when Pakistan won against India.
Now, with the tournament making a return, if both teams make it to the final, they will face each other in Dubai.
“A Pakistan-India match is not just a game of cricket; it’s a game of expectations, of emotions,” former Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq told Reuters.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)