Champions Trophy 2025 Jersey Controversy: India To Omit Pakistan’s Name

The BCCI seems to be on the verge of brewing another controversy regarding the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.

In a recent attention seeking attempt, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has reportedly decided to exclude the name of the host nation, Pakistan, from their team’s Champions Trophy jersey. 

This decision has given rise to another wave of controversy and is expected to further worsen the cricketing relationship between the two countries. 

Initially the Indian government refused to send its team to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. For the next few months, this became a bone of contention between the PCB and the BCCI. 

After numerous meetings between the ICC, BCCI, and the PCB in which solutions were suggested and rejected left, right, and center, a conditional hybrid model was agreed upon. 

Traditionally, it is standard practice for teams participating in ICC events to sport the name of the host country on their jerseys as a part of the tournament branding, even when the actual matches are held in a different location.

Yet, the BCCI has chosen to break this years long tradition by choosing not to display Pakistan’s name on the Indian team’s CT25 jersey. 

This situation has angered the PCB and rightly so. 

“The BCCI is bringing politics into cricket, which is not at all good for the game. They refused to travel to Pakistan,” a PCB official stated.

“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 name printed on their jersey. We believe that the world governing body [ICC] will not let this happen and will support Pakistan.”

It’s hard to believe that a team as big as India would behave in such a petty manner.