Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) officials’ absence from the Champions Trophy 2025 final’s presentation ceremony on Sunday has drawn criticism from the country’s former senior players of the game.
India beat New Zealand in the final in Dubai, with the Men in Blue playing all their matches at the same venue after they refused to tour hosts Pakistan for the eight-nation event for unspecified reasons. Lahore was the alternate venue for the final had India missed out on qualifying for it.
PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi was conspicuous by his absence from the occasion. Instead, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Binny presented jackets to the Indian players. Even Tournament Director Sumair Ahmed Syed was not on stage for the presentation ceremony, making it seem like a complete family affair for team India.
Speaking on the topic on the Ten Sports programme ‘The DP World Dressing Room’, former Pakistan cricket captain Wasim Akram said,“ We [Pakistan] were the hosts, weren’t we?
“Then the chief operating officer or whoever was representing the PCB chairman, why were they absent from the stage during the ceremony? Were they not invited? it definitely looked odd to me sitting here as well.”
Wasim earlier said that as per his knowledge, the PCB chairman could not attend the final due to being ill and was represented by PCB COO Sumair Ahmad Syed and Director International Cricket Usman Wahla instead.
“A Pakistani should have been on the stage, even if they didn’t hand over the cup or medals, in my opinion,” he added.
Former Pakistan paceman Shoaib Akhtar speaking on the topic on his YouTube channel said, “This is a weird thing that I saw [in the final], that no PCB representative was there [at the presentation ceremony].
“Pakistan were the hosts, and there was no official representative there, this is beyond my understanding. Why didn’t anyone come to represent and give the trophy?”
“This was the world stage and you should have been there, this [tournament] was hosted by us yet there was nobody there. Think about it, been very discouraging to see that,” he said.
PCB Chairman Naqvi in a post on X on Monday congratulated the collective efforts of everyone who made it possible to stage the event in the country.
“I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the dedicated PCB team, the vigilant law enforcement agencies, the supportive provincial governments, the esteemed ICC officials, and all the phenomenal participating cricket teams that traveled to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy 2025,” he stated.
He, however, did not address PCB officials’ absence from the podium at the Champions Trophy final presentation ceremony.
When reached out, the PCB declined to comment on the matter, but reports suggest that the board will be taking up the matter of COO Sumair — not being invited to stage of the presentation ceremony despite being present at the stadium for the final — with the ICC.
The politics of the sport hang over India’s triumph in the Champions Trophy as India remains the sport’s biggest financier and its hold over the International Cricket Council (ICC) is unyielding. As such, the global body had to accept its demands of shifting its matches away from Pakistan — including the final, if it was to qualify.
After the BJP came to power in 2014, the cricketing relations between Pakistan and India became strained with the latter refusing to send their cricket teams to the neighbouring country while the former played on Indian soil in the ICC-managed global events including the 2023 ODI World Cup.
As the BJP government maintained its stubborn stance of refusing to send its cricketers to Pakistan for the February 19-March 9 Champions Trophy, the event became increasingly uncertain. Eventually, a two-way hybrid model was reached between the PCB and the BCCI according to which both the countries will play their matches in future ICC events — up to 2027 — on neutral venues.
Interestingly, India, which has not played any bilateral series with Pakistan since the 2013 limited-overs series, has faced their arch-rivals in all ICC events at different venues in the cricketing world.
The tournament’s tangled schedule, with teams flying in and out of the UAE from Pakistan while India has stayed put, has been hugely controversial.
India’s advantage of playing at just one venue was criticised by the cricketing fraternity, which included both current and former cricketers.
South Africa batter David Miller said “it was not an ideal situation” for his team to fly in to Dubai to wait on India’s semi-final opponent and then fly back to Lahore in less than 24 hours.
His teammate Van der Dussen had said the arrangements were undoubtedly advantageous to the Indian team. “If you can stay in one place, stay in one hotel, practice in the same facilities, play in the same stadium, on the same pitches every time, it’s definitely an advantage,” he had added.
Even nominal hosts Pakistan had to jump on a jet and fly to Dubai to play India, rather than face them on home soil. The pitches have been vastly different in the two countries. Pakistan tracks produced big totals, in contrast to the slow and turning decks of the Dubai stadium.