Lahore: In a major embarrassment for the organisers of Champions Trophy, the wrong national anthem was played ahead of the Champions Trophy match between England and Australia here on Saturday.
As the two teams lined up before the start of the Group B clash at Gaddafi Stadium, the players waited for the Australian national anthem to be played. Instead, it was the Indian national anthem which rang out.
As the crowd expressed their surprise with boos, the anthem was stopped and the right one played a few seconds later.
The video clip of the anthem blunder quickly went viral on X:
Lmao, they played the Indian national anthem instead of Australia at Lahore for a couple of seconds by mistake.#ENGvsAUS pic.twitter.com/j5vhpiSV1O
— GOAT Sachin (@GOATSachin) February 22, 2025
The Champions Trophy is an International Cricket Council (ICC) event which Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is hosting.
However, what made the anthem gaffe even more startling is the fact that India are not playing any of their matches in Pakistan. After India refused to travel to Pakistan due to strained relations between the two countries, a reluctant PCB finally agreed to ‘stage’ India’s games in Dubai, including the semifinal and final, if they qualify.
Days before the tournament got underway, there was another controversy involving India. Questions were raised when the Indian flag was not hoisted at Karachi’s National Stadium alongside the flags of other seven participating teams.
