The International Cricket Council’s (ICC) failure to invite the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to the closing ceremony of the Champions Trophy has not gone down well with the host. Although PCB’s Chief Executive Officer, Sumair Ahmed, who is also the director of the tournament, was present at the venue, he was not invited to the ceremony.

This was the first time in 29 years that Pakistan had hosted an ICC event, with all India games scheduled in Dubai as part of hybrid mode of game. A source revealed that PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi did not go to Dubai due to prior commitments as the federal minister for interior, but the PCB CEO was sent to represent Pakistan at the final and closing presentation. He further added that, for some reason or misunderstanding, the PCB official was not called to the podium, from where ICC Chairman Jay Shah, BCCI President Roger Binny, and Secretary Devajit Saikia gave away the medals, trophies, and jackets to the players.

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BCCI President Binny presented the white jackets to Indian players and the medals to match officials, while ICC Chairman Shah handed the trophy to Rohit Sharma and gave the medals to Indian players.

However, the PCB was left fuming over the incident and is expected to raise the matter with the ICC regarding why its CEO was not invited on stage for the closing ceremony. The absence of a PCB official has sparked controversy. Former fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar questioned the absence of PCB officials from the post-match presentation ceremony after the final of the tournament.

“India has won the Champions Trophy, but I noticed there was no representative from the PCB after the final. Pakistan was hosting the Champions Trophy, and I do not understand it,” Akhtar said in a video posted on social media platform ‘X’.

“Why was nobody (from PCB) there to present the trophy? It is beyond me. It is something to think about. This is the world stage, and you should have been here. Feeling very down to see that,” Akhtar added.

“As far as I know, Chairman Mohsin Naqvi wasn’t well, but the people who came from PCB were Sumair Ahmed Syed (Chief Operating Officer of PCB) and Usman Wahla (Director of International for PCB), but no one was there on the stage,” said a disappointed Wasim Akram on the Dressing Room show after the event.

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“We were the host, weren’t we? How come even the COO of PCB, or whoever was representing the Chairman, wasn’t on stage? Were they not invited? I don’t know what the story is. It definitely looked odd to me while sitting here. Pakistan should have had someone on stage, even if they didn’t hand over the cup or medals. Somebody should have been there. It was imperative that Pakistan had representation in some form,” Akram added.

Meanwhile, India did not travel to the host country, Pakistan, citing security reasons, and played all its group games, the semi-final, and the final in Dubai.