LAHORE: The Pakistan team couldn’t make it this far but a national hero was here at the Gaddafi Stadium for the semi-final of the Champions Trophy on Wednesday.

Olympic javelin champion Arshad Nadeem brought out the trophy to open the last-four clash between South Africa and New Zealand in front of a thin crowd that eventually swelled up as the day turned to night.

The dismay at Pakistan’s cricket team falling at the first hurdle in the first International Cricket Council tournament on home soil in almost three decades had been evident in the buildup to the game. There was little excitement and the semi-final being held on a weekday and that too in the month of Ramadan hardly helped.

This was the last game of the tournament, that is to be hosted by Pakistan, to be played in Pakistan.

India has stolen the show — and the tournament — from the country. Having refused to travel to Pakistan, India played all its matches in Dubai.

The hybrid arrangement agreed between the Pakistan Cricket Board and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) meant that it was already decided that the final would be held in Dubai if India made it that far.

India held up to its part of the bargain, cruising past Australia in the first semi-final on Tuesday.

“You should’ve asked Australia to win,” BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla, who was in Lahore along with representatives from other cricket boards, told reporters in a light-hearted conversation when asked if he felt that Pakistan should’ve held the Champions Trophy final.

Shukla’s arrival in the country had generated a significant amount of interest about the resumption of bilateral cricketing ties between the two countries. He came to the media centre close to the end of the New Zealand innings and was immediately swarmed by reporters who were asking exactly that.

“Any country in the world would want to host an India-Pakistan game,” he said, when asked if there was a chance of bilateral ties resuming on neutral venues.

India and Pakistan only play each other during ICC tournaments and Shukla reiterated that if, ever, the Indian team was to come to Pakistan, it would need the approval of its government.

“It’s true that the fans want to see this contest,” he said. “But as a matter of policy, the BCCI [and also the PCB] has always been particular about hosting a bilateral tournament on home soil. We have been particular about it, and let’s see what happens in the future. For us to visit Pakistan, it will have to come from the government.”

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2025