PCB Blames ICC for ‘India’s National Anthem: On Saturday, there was a major lapse before the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy (Champions Trophy 2025) match between Australia and England at the Gaddafi Stadium, in which the Indian national anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana’ was played in place of ‘Advance Australia Fair’ (Australia’s national anthem). As I have been in ICC events, the national anthem of both teams are played before every match starts. The ‘Advance Australia Fair’ was to be played after England’s national anthem ‘God Save the King’. However, all the people present at the match site were surprised when the Indian national anthem was rang for two seconds. This mistake was immediately rectified and ‘Advance Australia Fair’ was played.
Cricket lovers on social media reacted strongly to this, who could not stop themselves from laughing at this big mistake. Now the PCB has reacted for this incident. The PCB has clarified that the ICC needs to give some explanation, as their people are responsible for the teams (national anthem) playlists in the Champions Trophy. A PCB source has been quoted as saying, “Since India is not playing in Pakistan, it is difficult to understand how their national anthem was rang by the playlist.”
In fact, before the Australia-England match, the fault of the national anthem is something about which the host organization Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and International Cricket Council (ICC) will have to clarify when the time comes, as well as take action against the people concerned. Will be Talking about the match, Australia captain Steve Smith decided to bowl first by winning the toss against England in his first group B match of the tournament of eight teams. Both teams landed in Saturday’s match after defeat in the ODI series in the subcontinent.
England suffered a 3–0 defeat in India, while Australia lost both their ODIs in Colombo to Sri Lanka, which is not part of the current Champions Trophy. Both England and Australia need at least two wins in their group B matches to reach the semi -finals of the Champions Trophy, including South Africa and Afghanistan. The last time the ODI between the two teams was played in England last year, in which Australia won the series 3–2.