ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Wasim Akram stunned, furious PCB claims officials present but ICC ignored them despite being host
PTC News Desk: The cricket fraternity in Pakistan has been agnosing after they fail to spot even a single PCB official or any representative on the stage during the closing ceremony of ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
ICC chairman Jay Shay, BCCI president Roger Binny and secretary Devajit Saikia could be seen on the stage handing over the trophy to the winner and medals to all the players, however no PCB officials became part of the proceedings on the stage at any point despite Pakistan being official host of the tournament.
However Pakistan Cricket Board claims that they did send an official for the closing ceremony in Dubai, however was brutally ignored by the ICC.
As per the reports, PCB's chief executive officer, Sumair Ahmed, who was also the tournament director, was present at the Dubai International Stadium for the Champions Trophy final between India and New Zealand but was not invited to the ceremony. In spite of his presence, he was not called on the stage during the trophy presentation.
The incident has since snowballed into a huge controversy, with many questions being asked from the International Cricket Council (ICC) over the incident.
"We were the host, weren't we right? How come even the COO of PCB or whoever it may be who was representing Chairman Saab, why weren't they on stage? Were they not invited? I don't know what is the story. It definitely looked odd to me while sitting here. Pakistani, koi na koi stage par khada hona bahot jaruri tha. Chahe wo cup na de, chahe wo medal na de but somebody should've been there. (It was imperative that one of the representatives from Pakistan should have had representation in any form, doesn't matter if that person was giving the Cup, medals or not)," added Akram.
- With inputs from agencies
