Pakistan cricketer Kamran Akmal spoke on the recent furore regarding the lack of a representative from host country Pakistan at the prize distribution ceremony of the recently concluded Champions Trophy 2025.
Former wicketkeeper batsman Kamran Akmal spoke on the recent issue of the lack of a representative from host country Pakistan at the prize distribution ceremony of the just-concluded Champions Trophy.
As per him, Pakistan didn’t have a representative because it didn’t “deserve” to be there.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has protested to the International Cricket Council (ICC) over the fact that there was no representative of the host country present during the prize ceremony when India won the Champions Trophy final against New Zealand on Sunday.
PCB Chief Executive and the director of the tournament, Sumair Ahmad Syed, attended the event in Dubai. As PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi was not well and could not make it to the ceremony, Sumair represented the host country. Yet, he was nowhere to be found at the official ceremony.
Kamran criticized Pakistan’s representative for not attending the ceremony. He said that Pakistan did not deserve to have its representative present. He stressed that there was a necessity to upgrade the nation’s cricket in order to restore its lost respect.
“The ICC stood in front of us in the mirror. The director of the tournament (Sumair) was present. He was present, and why didn’t he attend the ceremony? It is because we don’t merit being there.
We are not playing quality cricket. Minow teams stood in front of us in the mirror,” Kamran said on his YouTube channel.
“No one talked of how Pakistan had organized the event. If we have played such cricket, we will be treated like this. If you play for yourself, there will be no respect,” Kamran further said.
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As per latest reports, the PCB has also requested a formal explanation from the ICC on why the whole situation was justified.
The PCB never told the ICC that Sumair would replace Naqvi at the ceremony, ESPNcricinfo reported. The Pakistan board thinks, though, that the responsibility rested on the ICC to call them and ask about a substitute for Naqvi.
BCCI president Roger Binny, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia, ICC chairman Jay Shah and New Zealand Cricket CEO Roger Twose were present on the stage to hand over the awards to the two finalists, India and New Zealand, during the ceremony. PCB’s chief operating officer Sumair Ahmed, who was also the Champions Trophy tournament director, was also present at the ground.
But he was not invited onto the stage to attend the post-match ceremony, something which annoyed the Pakistan Board. Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar also expressed his concern regarding the controversy in a video uploaded on his social media accounts immediately after the final.
Earlier, long before the Champions Trophy started, PCB were dissatisfied with India’s refusal to not visit Pakistan for the tournament because of cold political relations between the two nations. They finally had to settle for a hybrid model since the two boards agreed to not visit each other’s nations for ICC tournaments until 2027.
They then lost to India by six wickets. The two losses effectively sealed their fate and New Zealand’s victory over Bangladesh sealed the deal that Pakistan were eliminated from the tournament in the group stage. Their final match against Bangladesh was washed out.
Consequently, India played all their matches in Dubai, which threw the traveling routine of the teams into disarray prior to the semi-finals. The Champions Trophy 2025 was the first tournament ever to be hosted by Pakistan after the 1996 World Cup.
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