Delhi: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has refused to print the name of the host country ‘Pakistan’ on the jersey of Team India for the ICC Champions Trophy starting from February 19. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is unhappy with this decision. However, all the matches of the blue jersey team will be played in Dubai.
Accusing BCCI of politicizing the game, a PCB official said, “BCCI is bringing politics into cricket, which is against the spirit of the game.” Recently, BCCI had also refused to send team captain Rohit Sharma to Pakistan for the opening ceremony of the Champions Trophy.
Pakistan hopes that the International Cricket Council (ICC) will take this issue seriously and support them. The PCB official said, “If the Indian team does not get the name of the host country printed on its jersey, then the ICC should intervene.”
Team India will play its first match against Bangladesh on 20 February. India’s second match in Group A will be against Pakistan on 23 February and the third match will be against New Zealand on 2 March. The semi-finals will be played on March 4 and 5 in Dubai and Lahore respectively. If India reaches the final, then this match will be held in Dubai on March 9.
The Indian team is as follows –
Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah (doubtful), Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja.