Claim: The Pakistan cricket team is the first hosting team in history to get eliminated first in a championship.
Fact: Pakistan is not the first-ever host team to experience such a loss in the history of the ICC Champions Trophy. The Kenyan cricket team was the first host-team that was eliminated earliest from the championship in 2000.
On 23 February 2025, a viral Facebook post claimed that the Pakistani cricket team is now the first hosting team to get eliminated first. While the post does not mention any specific tournament or championship, the post was shared amid the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy, co-hosted by Pakistan and the UAE. The caption also makes mention of the Pakistani team showing “hospitality”.
The claim seems to be referring to the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
Fact or Fiction?
Has Pakistan been eliminated from the Champions Trophy?
At the time of publishing, the Pakistan cricket team has now been eliminated from the Champions Trophy. The team has played two matches so far and lost both. Before the Bangladesh cricket team lost to New Zealand on 24 February 2025, the Pakistan cricket team still had a chance to qualify for the semi finals of the Champions Trophy.
For Pakistan to have remained in the tournament, the subsequent matches in the tournament (24 February and onwards) required specific outcomes. Pakistan could still have qualified for the semifinals of the tournament “if Bangladesh beat New Zealand in the sixth match of the tournament on February 24, Pakistan thump Bangladesh on (February 27), and India go past New Zealand on March 2”.
A Sports further clarified that “if New Zealand beats Bangladesh today [24 February 2025], Pakistan’s fate will be sealed, with both them and Bangladesh officially eliminated from the tournament.”
Bangladesh’s loss to New Zealand on 24 February effectively denied the Pakistan cricket team any chance of qualifying for the semi finals. This has resulted in Pakistan and Bangladesh being simultaneously eliminated from the Champions Trophy. However, the claim that Pakistan had been eliminated from the Trophy was made on 23 February, at which point the team still remained in the tournament.
Have other host teams been eliminated first in Champions Trophy history?
Following Pakistan’s elimination after New Zealand’s win on 24 February 2025, they will still not be the first hosting-team experiencing such a loss. The 2000 ICC Champions Trophy (referred to as the ICC KnockOut Trophy) was hosted by Kenya, and the Kenyan cricket team was the first to be eliminated in the championship.
Similarly, in the past, other host teams have been eliminated in the first round of matches. When India hosted the ICC Champions Trophy in 2006, they were eliminated in the first round of matches. South Africa, too, which hosted the same Trophy in 2009, were eliminated in the first round of matches. However, it is noteworthy that in both cases, India and South Africa were not eliminated first in chronological order but only as part of the first-round of matches.
Virality
On Facebook, the post has garnered 38 K reactions and 4 K shares.
On Facebook, the claim was shared here, here, and here.
On X, the post was shared here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Conclusion: The Pakistan cricket team has not been eliminated from the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 yet. Their future in the tournament is yet to be decided by the outcomes of the matches that will be played between Bangladesh and New Zealand, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and India and New Zealand. If eliminated, Pakistan would still not be the first-ever host team to be eliminated first in the history of the ICC Champions Trophy.
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Background image in cover photo: NDTV Sports