• Moumi Mousumi
• 22 Feb, 2025

In a surprising turn of events the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 match between Australia and England at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore witnessed an unexpected blunder. Just before the crucial fourth match’s toss instead of the national anthems of Australia (“Advance Australia Fair”) and England (“God Save The King”) India's national anthem “Jana Gana Mana” echoed through the stadium leaving everyone stunned.

Context & Details

The incident unfolded on Saturday when players and fans geared up for an intense clash between the two cricket giants. According to the protocol the Australian anthem was to be followed by the English anthem prior to the toss. However the stadium speakers mistakenly played the Indian national anthem.

Both captains Steve Smith (Australia) and Jos Buttler (England) were visibly shocked standing in confusion as the anthem played. The unexpected moment created a brief awkward silence in the stadium.

Realising the error the organisers swiftly stopped the Indian anthem and rectified the mistake by playing “Advance Australia Fair” and “God Save The King” back to back. Despite the hiccup the match proceeded as planned.

The viral video of the blunder quickly spread across social media, with fans reacting with a mix of surprise and humour. The hashtag #ChampionsTrophyBlunder started trending, drawing global attention to the mix-up.

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Match Update

As for the match Australia won the toss and opted to field first. By the time of writing this report England had scored 183 runs for 2 wickets in 28 overs.

- Ben Duckett scored a solid 84 runs.

- Joe Root remained at the crease with 60 runs.

- Phil Salt was dismissed for 10 runs off 6 balls.

- Jamie Smith added 15 runs from 13 balls before getting out.

Australian bowler Ben Dwarshuis took both wickets sending Salt and Smith back to the pavilion with both caught by Alex Carey.