The ICC Champions Trophy 2025 may have ended with India lifting the trophy – unbeaten and unchallenged – but the real party is happening online. From memes to reels to savage one-liners, cricket fans have turned social media into a comedy club, and let’s just say, Pakistan is the punchline more often than not.
Take this gem of a short video doing the rounds: One guy asks another, ‘If Virat Kohli were to play in the PSL [Pakistan Super League], how much would he charge?’ Without missing a beat, the other deadpans, ‘For that, we’d have to approach the IMF for a loan.’
Brutal. But behind the humour lies an uncomfortable truth. Pakistanis see Kohli as a cricketer beyond price, while their economy, on the other hand, is so battered that even hypothetical dreams need international financial aid. With flour, meat and vegetable prices soaring, electricity bills skyrocketing, and fuel costs burning a hole in people’s pockets, cricket is one of the few things they can still afford to laugh about.
Pakistan hosted, and India profited
Another viral video shows how Pakistan spent crores building and upgrading stadiums to host the championship, only to see their investment turn into a financial black hole. India’s refusal to play in Pakistan left their stadiums echoing with emptiness, even when top teams played there. Meanwhile, in Dubai – where India played all its matches – stadiums were packed to capacity, with tickets reportedly fetching a jaw-dropping Dh97,000 (INR5.35 million) fir the final showdown! Fans were willing to sell their kidneys [well, almost] just to witness India in action. Dubai, of course, laughed all the way to the bank, with hotels and tourism flourishing thanks to Indian cricket mania.
‘We are going to surprise India’ – they did!
A pre-tournament meme shows a confident Pakistan team manager boldly declaring, ‘We are going to surprise India.’ And surprise, they did – just not in the way they intended. India’s crushing win on February 23 was indeed unexpected, but only in how effortless it was.
Then there is this classic one: ‘Pakistan waited 29 years to host an ICC tournament… and they were virtually out of it in less than four days.’ Ouch!
Of course, no Pakistan cricket meme fest is complete without the legendary 2019 internet-breaker: ‘Na partition hoti, na hum zaleel ho rahe hote.’ (If Partition hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t be facing this humiliation.) With India’s latest triumph, this old hit has found fresh relevance, making the rounds yet again.
It memes a lot to cricket fans
And then there is this one – pure savagery. A picture of Mohammad Rizwan walking back to the pavilion during a match against Bangladesh, with the caption: ‘Mohammad Rizwan missed his century by 92 runs.’
From heartbreak to humour, Pakistan cricket fans have been through it all. And while some memes may be ‘unfairly brutal’, the best way forward is to take it sportively – because if there is one thing cricket teaches us, it is that sometimes, you just have to laugh at your own misfortune.