Ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan and Dubai, reports indicate that India has objected to having ‘Pakistan’ (the host nation) printed on their team jerseys.
While Pakistan remains the official host of the tournament, India will play its Champions Trophy matches in Dubai due to ongoing political tensions. A hybrid model was agreed upon by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the International Cricket Council (ICC) after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) refused to send its team to Pakistan. However, the issue of the host nation’s name on the jersey has sparked further disagreement.
A PCB official, speaking to news agency IANS, accused the BCCI of introducing “politics in cricket” by rejecting the printing of Pakistan’s name on India’s jerseys. The official also noted that the Indian board had previously declined to send captain Rohit Sharma to Pakistan for the captains’ meet, an event leading up to the Champions Trophy.
“BCCI is bringing politics into cricket, which is not at all good for the game. They refused to travel to Pakistan. They don’t want to send their captain (to Pakistan) for the opening ceremony, and now there are reports that they don’t want the host nation’s (Pakistan) name printed on their jersey. We believe that the world governing body (ICC) will not let this happen and will support Pakistan,” the PCB official stated.
According to ICC regulations, the host nation’s name, in this case, Pakistan, will be printed on the jerseys of all participating teams in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. However, an IANS report on January 20 revealed that India does not want Pakistan’s name on their jerseys for the event.
Notably, India also avoided printing Pakistan’s name on their jerseys during the 2023 Asia Cup, which was played in a hybrid model with India’s matches held in Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, Pakistan featured ‘India’ on their jerseys during the 2023 ODI World Cup.
Despite the PCB’s strong push, the BCCI maintained its refusal to send Team India to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy. In the end, the Pakistan board had to accept India’s terms, with the new agreement also preventing the PCB from sending its team to India for future ICC events.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Stay ahead of the latest cricket industry trends by subscribing to our free cricexec “daily briefing” newsletter.
