"Above my pay grade.." Hardik Pandya on India's decision not to travel to Pakistan for ICC Champions Trophy 2025

Hardik Pandya scored 18 runs in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 final.

India defeated New Zealand in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 final on Sunday, March 9 to clinch their third championship title. The Men in Blue had a dominant campaign which saw them winning all five of their matches in the tournament.

They defeated Bangladesh, Pakistan, and New Zealand in the group stage before edging past Australia in the semi-final and New Zealand in the final.

Earlier, the BCCI, PCB, and ICC collectively agreed on a hybrid model for the tournament, which meant India playing all their matches in Dubai.

Many former cricketers and analysts pointed out that India had a significant advantage in the tournament, playing all their games at a single venue, which increased familiarity with the pitch and reduced travel between matches.

Just like other Indian cricketers, captain and the support staff, star all-rounder Hardik Pandya was questioned by some on why India didn’t travel to Pakistan for the tournament. The all-rounder, however, answered it smartly.

Hardik Pandya reveals the reason why India did not travel to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025

Responding to a journalist who asked why India did not travel to Pakistan and mentioned that fans in Pakistan would have loved to see the Indian team play there, Pandya remained tight-lipped, stating that answering such a question was beyond his pay grade.

Pandya said, “Great sir that they also wanted us to play there. But it didn’t happen. I’m sure that the Pakistan fans who came here to watch the game would have enjoyed the games for sure. Now why we didn’t go (to Pakistan) is above my pay grade. So yeah, that is all that I can say.“

Pandya had a fantastic ICC Champions Trophy 2025 campaign, contributing 99 runs and four wickets in five games. He played small but valuable knocks in the semi-final and final against Australia and New Zealand, scoring 28 and 18 runs respectively, to help his team secure four-wicket wins in both matches.

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