This year’s Champions Trophy will be held from the 19th of February 2025 to the 9th of March in Pakistan and Dubai respectively. Amid all this, Team India has decided not to print the Names of Pakistan who are the joint hosts along with Dubai in their jersey for this tournament. This single decision by BCCI has led to worldwide criticism as to why they have not printed the names of both the hosts of the Champions Trophy.
India to Play all its matches in Dubai:
Although this year’s Champions Trophy will be held in 2 countries, D Dubai, and Pakistan, India had announced earlier that they will be playing all their matches in Dubai due to the ongoing political tension between the two countries. This appeal was accepted by ICC as they stated that the security of the players is the utmost priority for ICC. Even the match between the fierce rivals, India and Pakistan on 23rd February will be played in Dubai itself.
BCCI refuses to print Pakistan’s name:
BCCI has announced that they won’t be printing the name of Pakistan on their jerseys, and their jerseys will only feature Dubai on the Champions Trophy badge. This has caused outrage in Pakistan as they believe that although India won’t be playing any of their matches in Pakistan, they are still the joint hosts for the tournament.
BCCI has not yet revealed the reason behind this bold decision. Rivals India and Pakistan in the same group: Amid all this controversy, it must be noted that ICC has still put the eternal rivals India and Pakistan in the same group i.e. Bangladesh and New Zealand.
PCB fumes at BCCI:
A PCB official, anonymously stated that the BCCI is trying to bring politics into cricket. The official also stated that such acts should not be accepted by the ICC as they are spreading hatred into the sport of cricket. They also stated that this is wrong on behalf of the Indian Cricket Team as the Champions trophy has two hosts, not just one. One more controversy amidst this situation is that the PCB is claiming that Rohit Sharma won’t be attending the regular Captain’s Press Conference.
Indian Squad for the Champions Trophy- Given is the list of players that will be playing in the Champions Trophy 2025:
Rohit Sharma (captain)
Shubhman Gill (Vice Captain)
Virat Kohli
Shreyas Iyer
L Rahul
Hardik Pandya
Axar Patel
Washington Sunder
Kuldeep Yadav
Jasprit Bumrah
Mohd. Shami
Arshdeep Singh
Yashasvi Jaiswal
Rishabh Pant
Ravindra Jadeja
What’s Next?
ICC’s verdict about this whole situation has not been released yet and many people are waiting for their verdict.PCB has also stated that these acts should not be accepted in the sport and are stating that India should also print their names on the Jersey even though this happening seems highly unlikely.