The Champions Trophy 2025 started with a match between Pakistan and New Zealand in Karachi on Wednesday. The Champions Trophy 2025 marks a return of ICC events to Pakistan after a long gap. While, earlier the Champions Trophy was supposed to be hosted wholly in Pakistan, after the BCCI's objection to sending the Indian cricket team to the country a hybrid model was followed. Ahead of the Champions Trophy, there was a row over no Indian flags at the Karachi Stadium too.
However, during the Pakistan vs New Zealand match on Wednesday, the Indian flag was prominently hoisted at the Karachi Stadium. There was mixed response regarding the same. While some Indian fans took the opportunity to troll Pakistan social media users, the Pakistan fans said it proved how large-hearted they were.
Earlier, as social media went berserk, with fans criticising Pakistan's refusal to raise the Indian flag at its stadiums, the PCB brushed aside the controversy, saying the flags of the countries who are playing in Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 have only been raised at the stadiums.
"As you know, India is not coming to Pakistan to play its matches during the ICC Champions Trophy 2025; the National Stadium in Karachi, Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, and the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore have hoisted flags of countries that are going to play at the said venues," said a PCB source was quoted as saying by IANS.
When asked why the Indian, Bangladesh, and other participating countries' flags were not there at the Karachi and Lahore stadiums, the source said, "The Indian team is going to play its matches in Dubai. Secondly, the Bangladesh team has not yet arrived in Pakistan and will be playing its first match against India in Dubai. Therefore, their flags have not been hoisted and the other nations, who have arrived here and will be playing in Pakistan... their flags are there at the stadium.
The BCCI vice-chairman also reacted to the controversy, saying the Pakistan board needs to first confirm if Indian flag was initially there or not. If it wasn't, it should've been put.
"First, it should be confirmed that whether the Indian flag was there or not. If it wasn't there, then it should have been put. All the participant nations' flags should have been there," Rajeev Shukla told Livemint on the sidelines of the Restaurant Cricket League in Delhi on Tuesday.