Champions Trophy 2025: PCB on backfoot after controversy, Indian national flag hoisted in Pakistan

The ICC Champions Trophy 2025 is going to start shortly from now. Before the tournament, the PCB hoisted the national flags of all the countries participating in the tournament at the Karachi Stadium but created a controversy by not hoisting the Indian national flag. As per the rules, even though Team India's matches are to be held in Dubai, the Indian flag should have been hoisted in Karachi as well. Call it a mistake or whether the PCB did this deliberately, it is a different matter. After facing criticism on social media, the PCB has corrected the mistake and has now hoisted the national flag of India in Karachi.

Actually, the controversy about the tricolor arose after the clip went viral where all the flags of the countries playing the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 were visible, but the Indian tricolor flag wasn't visible. In the clip, the Indian flag purportedly wasn't being hoisted during the stadium. In the wake of this, the PCB has been slammed for being agitated over the refusal by India to host the Champions Trophy match in the country.

After facing heavy criticism on social media, the PCB said that only the flags of the countries playing in Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 have been hoisted in the stadiums. A PCB source told IANS that as you know, India is not coming to Pakistan to play its matches during the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. The flags of the countries that are going to play at the said venues have been hoisted at the National Stadium in Karachi, Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, and Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

When asked why the flags of India, Bangladesh, and other participating countries were not there at the Karachi and Lahore stadiums, the source said that the Indian team is going to play its matches in Dubai. Secondly, the Bangladesh team has not yet reached Pakistan and will play its first match against India in Dubai. So their flags have not been hoisted and the other countries, that have arrived here and will play in Pakistan, have their flags in the stadium.

The source further said that I don't even think the PCB needs to make an official statement on this. It is clear that this controversy has been created without facts and its aim is to damage the image of hosts Pakistan through fake news. Let us tell you that the name of hosts Pakistan is written on the jersey of the Indian team despite playing in Dubai. However, there is no national flag of India above the stadium as its matches will be held in Dubai. In such a situation, the national flag of India has been hoisted inside the stadium.