ICC thanks PCB amid Champions Trophy closing ceremony controversy

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has expressed deep gratitude to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for seamlessly conducting the Champions Trophy 2025. Notably, the last time Pakistan conducted an ICC tournament was in 1996, when they were co-hosts of the Cricket World Cup.

The clip was posted on the Instagram account of the global administrative body. It was a montage of the cricketing action which went down throughout the entirety of the tournament. 

The edit featured a voiceover which shared a message highlighting the collective success of the tournament in bringing nations together, wrapping up with a "Thank you, Pakistan" text. 

The CEO of the ICC, Geoff Allardice, also sent a heartfelt message to the members of the organising committee of the PCB and the other support staff for ensuring that the tournament was conducted in the manner that it ended up.

"We would like to thank and congratulate the Pakistan Cricket Board for successfully hosting the ICC Men's Champions Trophy 2025. As this was the first global multi-team cricket event played in the country since 1996, this event was of huge significance for the PCB. All those involved in renovating the stadiums, preparing the playing surfaces, delivering the matches, and hosting the teams and visitors should be very proud of their efforts," stated Allardice, as quoted by the ICC.

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This comes after a major debate erupted within the cricket fraternity as fans observed no representatives of the PCB being present during the closing ceremony of the tournament in Dubai, all this with Pakistan being the host nation. Fans took particular notice of how all of the three representatives at the presentation ceremony were Indians — former BCCI chairperson-turned-ICC president Jay Shah, current BCCI president Roger Binny, and secretary of the BCCI Devajit Saikia.