CT2025: Indian national anthem played during Australia-England clash at Lahore

Lahore [Pakistan], February 22 (ANI): Those who gathered at the Gadaffi Stadium in Lahore for the ICC Champions Trophy match between Australia and England witnessed a massive goof-up as the Indian national anthem was played for a few seconds as both the teams stood for their respective national anthems.

The Gaddafi Stadium at Lahore witnessed this unexpected mix-up as the portion of Indian national anthem saying "Bhaarat Bhaagya Vidhaata" was played for around two seconds before the ones in charge of playing the national anthem realised their mistake and halted it.

The incident produced a lot of hilarious memes and reactions on social media, with some even criticising the organisers for their blunder.

The playing of Indian national anthem caused a surprised reaction from the crowd as India's next match against archrivals Pakistan is in Dubai's Dubai International Stadium on Sunday and India is not even in Pakistan for their Champions Trophy fixtures as they are playing all their fixtures in Dubai under the hybrid model.

Coming to the match between both Ashes rivals, Australia won the toss and opted to bowl first against Jos Buttler-led England.

The oldest rivals in cricket are set to fight for victory in a high-stakes clash at the Champions Trophy. England arrived in Lahore after a 3-0 ODI series defeat against India. On the other hand, Australia was outfoxed in Sri Lanka in the build-up to the event in the absence of its renowned pace trio, which featured Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood. Australia will continue to miss the pace trio and will need their next stars to embrace the challenge and deliver for the Baggy Greens.

Coming to the India-Pakistan clash, the game is a high-stakes battle for both teams, as while Pakistan will try to keep their title defence alive, India will aim to almost confirm its berth in the semis.

The game is also being touted as an opportunity for India to avenge the loss of the 2017 Champions Trophy Final when Virat Kohli's men were deprived of putting their hands on the ICC trophy.

Unlike the 50-over and T20 World Cups, Pakistan holds a 3-2 advantage over India in the Champions Trophy. The most notable encounter remains the 180-run triumph in the 2017 Champions Trophy final, which makes Sunday's game even more exciting for fans from both sides of the border.

India squad for CT2025: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy.

Pakistan: Mohammad Rizwan (c), Babar Azam, Imam-ul-Haq, Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Tayyab Tahir, Faheem Ashraf, Khushdil Shah, Salman Ali Agha, Usman Khan, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi. (ANI)

(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)