Champions Trophy 2025: ICC reprimanded Pakistan after Champions Trophy, reminded protocol

The Pakistan Cricket Board, which is being criticized for not taking their representative to the stage during the Champions Trophy final's award ceremony, complained to the ICC that their representative was not included in the ceremony in the event held in Dubai on Sunday. Telecom Asia Sport on Monday reported that top officials in the PCB claimed that the PCB had sent a letter in strong words to the ICC management objecting to why their representative in the stadium was not invited to the stage during the ceremony. In reply to this, the response that came from the ICC once again embarrassed the PCB.

Pakistan is the official host of the Champions Trophy, which was held on a hybrid model, with Rohit Sharma's team playing their matches in Dubai as the Indian government did not allow the team to travel to the neighboring country. Senior officials said PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi has told the ICC that he will not attend the final as he was busy attending the country's joint parliament session on Monday. Naqvi is also the country's home minister. PCB chief operating officer Sumair Ahmed attended the final in place of Naqvi, but as per ICC protocols, he was not eligible to attend the ceremony, which the PCB has objected to.

As per ICC protocols, the ICC chief distributes the awards and trophies, while the host country is represented on the podium. New Zealand Cricket (NZC) director Roger Twose, BCCI president Roger Binny, and BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia were on the podium. ICC president Jay Shah handed over the trophy to Rohit Sharma after India defeated New Zealand in the final. The PCB says that when Saqia and Twose could be invited to the podium despite not being heads of their respective boards, Ahmed should have been invited to the podium as well.

"Naqvi was not available and had already refused to come to Dubai. As per protocol, only officials can be invited for the trophy presentation, so no official from the PCB was available for it and they were the hosts, they should have been there," an ICC spokesperson said.