Former India cricketer Ajay Jadeja said had India won the Champions Trophy in Pakistan, it would have been an even more special win, beyond just the sports for the Men in Blue.
India beat New Zealand in the final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 at the Dubai International Ground on Sunday night and speaking on the Dressing Room show, the former India captain, Jadeja said, “I was just wishing that if India had won this in Lahore, it would’ve been even better. It would’ve been a victory beyond just the sport.”
He also praised all the fans around the world for turning up for the global tournament.
“Shoutout to the fans as well because every player that I’ve talked to who’s been there, they’ve enjoyed being there. The people of Pakistan have also come out in numbers. Their team didn’t do as well as they would’ve liked, but they’ve still kept that thing, and it’s been a happy moment and a great tournament,” he added.
Meanwhile, swing king Wasim Akram also heaped praises on the Indian team and said this ‘team would have won anywhere in the world’.
“This Indian team would have won it anywhere in the world. Yes, there were a lot of talks, but once decided that India would play all of their matches in Dubai and had they played in Pakistan, they would have won there as well. They won the 2024 T20 World Cup without losing a game, they went on to win the Champions Trophy without losing even one game which shows the depth in their cricket, that shows the leadership,” Akram said.
“If you remember they lost to New Zealand 3-0 in Test series at home, lost the Border-Gavaskar trophy and lost the series in Sri Lanka so they were under pressure to remove the captain, the coach… but sanity prevailed. BCCI backed them, said this is our captain, this is our coach and now they are the champions of the champion,” he added.
