Pakistan hosted an ICC event, the Champions Trophy 2025, for the first time after 29 years. So it was a big moment in the country’s cricketing history.
But the tournament didn’t pan out the way they would have loved to. Now the Champions Trophy 2025 was a success, but Pakistan couldn’t cash in on the golden opportunity. Rather, it brought a lot of psychological and financial losses to the hosts.
India’s Refusal to Play in Pakistan
Pakistan’s embarrassing run started even before the tournament began. They were supposed to host the entire tournament, but India’s refusal to play in Pakistan brought a new twist.
The political relations between both countries aren’t good, which meant India didn’t get clearance to travel to Pakistan. So that put up a spanner in Pakistan’s plan of hosting all teams.
There were speculations that the whole tournament may move out of Pakistan after India’s refusal. But a truce between PCB, BCCI, and ICC saw them host a majority of the matches, while India played in Dubai.
Pakistan’s Poor Performance
If that wasn’t enough, a poor performance from Pakistan in the Champions Trophy 2025 rubbed salt in their wounds. The hosts entered the tournament as defending champions, but their performance wasn’t even close to how a champion team performs.
Despite playing in familiar conditions, Pakistan couldn’t make the most out of it. Their campaign started on a rough note with a 60-run loss against New Zealand. Then they were no competition to arch-rivals India and failed to defend 241 runs.
Those two losses meant Pakistan were out of the tournament within five days of its commencement. They wanted to finish the tournament with two points, but the rain gods even denied that chance. Their last group game against Bangladesh was a washout, prompting them to share a point and finish at the bottom.
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Less Crowd Interest, Half-Empty Stadiums
Now one would’ve expected a lot of hype around an ICC event. And given Pakistan, a cricket-crazy nation, was hosting one after a long time, the excitement would have been through the rough.
But that wasn’t the case. As Pakistan exited the tourney early, the interest from locals seemed to have died down. The three venues – Lahore, Karachi, and Rawalpindi – that hosted games hardly saw packed stadiums.
Financial Burden and Revenue Loss
With Pakistan playing only one game at home and a few matches getting washed out, PCB incurred loss of revenue. The PCB was guaranteed earnings from hosting fee, ticket sales, and advertisements. But the washouts meant they had to issue ticket refunds.
Plus, the board had heavily invested in the renovation of all three venues, even exceeding their initial budget. According to reports, the PCB spent around US$45 million on renovation. But their tournament revenue is far from that number.
They will receive around $10-12 million as revenue, which is not even enough to recover the investment made for stadium renovations. This will now put financial strain on the cricket board.
Brand Value Down
On top of that, Pakistan’s lacklustre performance has further resulted in the team’s brand value going down. Pakistan cricket may struggle to secure lucrative sponsorship and broadcast deals in the future.
If their team’s performance doesn’t improve, especially in ICC events, then stakeholders will turn their backs on them. And this will result in a massive downgrade in brand value.
Like to know : – Champions Trophy Winners List all time 1998–2024
‘Final’ Embarrassment
Pakistan’s embarrassment didn’t end till the final match of the Champions Trophy. Despite being the official hosts, Pakistan couldn’t stage the final between India and New Zealand.
According to the hybrid arrangement in place, if India reached the final, then it would take place in Dubai. And that’s what happened.
India stormed into the title clash, and Pakistan had to let go of the opportunity to host a big final in their country. That was the final nail in the coffin.
