No Indian flag at Champions Trophy venue in Pakistan© X (Twitter)
A video of Pakistan’s National Stadium without the India flag among the flags of participating nations has sparked a controversy ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy. The video from Karachi emerged on social media and was widely shared by cricket fans. The missing Indian flag at the Champions Trophy venue left quite a few fans stunned and ignited a heated debate on social media. Fans speculated that the reason could be related to the fact that the Indian team is playing all of its Champions Trophy matches in Dubai.
The Karachi Stadium is scheduled to host matches for New Zealand, South Africa, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and England teams. Just a few days before the start of the event, a video emerged from the venue where flags of the participating nations could be seen, leaving fans wondering why such an act by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was executed.
No Indian flag in Karachi: As only the Indian team faced security issues in Pakistan and refused to play Champions Trophy matches in Pakistan, the PCB removed the Indian flag from the Karachi stadium while keeping the flags of the other guest playing nations. pic.twitter.com/rjM9LcWQXs
– Arsalan (@arslan1245) February 16, 2025
The Indian team refused to travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy and it was this stance that forced the Pakistan Cricket Board and the International Cricket Council to convert the tournament into a hybrid mode.
As part of the settlement, India will play all of their matches in Dubai, including the semi-final and final, if the team qualifies. As part of a compromise that was reached, involving BCCI, PCB and ICC, even the Pakistan cricket team would not play its matches in the ICC events that India will be hosting in the coming years.
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