Major blunder as Indian national anthem played by mistake ahead of England vs Australia Champions Trophy clash ICC Champions Trophy 2025 match between Australia and England had a slight moment of blunder. The Indian national Anthem was mistakenly played in Lahore instead of the Australian national anthem on Saturday (February 22) The Aussie players and crowd at Lahore Gaddafi Stadium were surprised before the organisers realized their blunder and stopped the Indian anthem. Order was restored when Advance Australia Fair was finally played at the renowned Lahore venue, which has been renovated for the Champions Trophy. Australia won the toss and elected to field against England in its opening Group B game on Saturday. Pakistan is hosting its first major ICC tournament in 29 years since it co-hosted the 1996 World Cup with India and Sri Lanka. New Zealand and India won their opening group A games against Pakistan and Bangladesh respectively while South Africa began its campaign in Group B with 107-run victory against Afghanistan at Karachi on Friday. England go into the opening game with four specialist bowlers and will be heavily relying on the pace of Mark Wood and Jofra Archer upfront with Brydon Carse as the other pace option. Australia didn’t have an ideal preparation for the tournament after losing the home series 2-1 to Pakistan and was also whitewashed 2-0 in Sri Lanka earlier this month. England, coming into the Champions trophy after a 3-0 loss in India, has promoted wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith to No. 3 which means Joe Root will be batting down at No. 4. Liam Livingstone and Root will make up for the fifth bowler with leg-spinner Adil Rashid as the sole specialist spin option in the playing XI. All-rounder Marcus Stoinis has announced a surprise retirement from ODIs.
