Organisers of the Champions Trophy match between Australia and England were left red-faced after the wrong national anthem was played in Lahore.
Josh Inglis posted his maiden ODI century as Australia bludgeoned the largest total in Champions Trophy history to pull off a spectacular five-wicket win over arch rivals England.
Ben Duckett cracked 165 off 143 balls to lift England to 8-351 on Saturday night, bettering the previous best Champions Trophy mark of 4-347 set by NZ against the US at The Oval in 2004.
But England’s record lasted only a matter of hours, with Australia chasing down the victory target on 5-356 with 15 balls to spare courtesy of Inglis’ heroics.
However, the match got off to a rocky start with the Indian national anthem being played before the match instead of Advance Australia Fair.
Realising their mistake, officials managed to get the Aussie anthem playing, but for many fans – especially those in Pakistan and India – the damage was done.
Somehow the Indian national anthem was played instead of the Australian one – and many Pakistani fans were not impressed
Advance Australia Fair was eventually played after organisers realised their mistake
India is not scheduled to play any matches in Pakistan, because of tensions between the nations, so the Indian anthem blaring to the locals didn’t go down well.
The Pakistan Cricket Board is reportedly blaming the ICC for the blunder and has demanded an explanation.
A source close to the ICC told The Hindu that the PCB has sent a letter to the governing body about the incident.
‘The PCB has made it clear that the ICC needs to offer some explanation as their people are responsible for the (national anthem) playlist of teams in the Champions Trophy.
‘Since India is not playing in Pakistan, it is hard to understand how their anthem was played by mistake from the playlist,’ the source said.
India have cited security concerns for not playing matches in Pakistan, and will play their matches in Dubai.
The rivals are due to clash on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Australia face South Africa on Tuesday and Afghanistan on Friday, and one more win may be enough to secure a semi-finals berth by finishing in the top two in Group B.
The Aussies pulled off a spectacular five-wicket win over arch rivals England in Lahore
‘I’m over the moon, great win,’ Inglis said on Saturday night.
‘We knew it was going to be tough going up against England, and 350 – a lot of things have got to go right to chase that down.
‘I’m just really pumped on a personal level, and for the guys out there it was a great performance.
‘It’s only a short-sharp tournament, so to go one from one is really important.’
