Former England cricketer David Lloyd slams ICC over Champions Trophy arrangements(Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
The Champions Trophy is coming to an end with the last and final match to be played between India and New Zealand on March 9. Though there have been some great matches in the tournament so far, there is still a lot of criticism towards the scheduling that the ICC and PCB have been getting.
The players and the experts have expressed their disappointment with how the tournament was planned. English analyst and pundit David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd also shared his opinion on the scheduling of the tournament and expressed his disappointment on social media. Lloyd openly said that the arrangements made for the tournament were embarrassing and laughable, and also brought up how this was affecting the players who were playing the ICC event.
“It’s really embarrassing that this is one of the highest, most important events in world cricket, and the arrangements of playing are farcical. It’s laughable that you have to do that. I mean, words fail me,” Bumble expressed his views as quoted by NDTV.
“It is just nonsense. I really don’t know how else to describe it, this is a world event. You have teams who go from here to there, you might play here, you might not; you might have to go back. I’m quite a humorous guy, and I think that’s quite funny actually, but it’s not so funny if I’m one of the players,” The former England cricketer said.
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A huge challenge for India in the final
While the traveling and scheduling have been a challenge, the Indian team might face a massive challenge in the upcoming final. India will be up against New Zealand, which has a great record against them in ICC knockout events.
India is yet to defeat the Blackcaps in an ICC knockout event, losing to them in the 2000 Champions Trophy final in Kenya and the WTC Final at Lord’s in 2021. This will be the third time the two teams will play each other in an ICC final.
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