Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai represented Pakistan along with Pakistani cricketer Azhar Ali in 60 second challenge at the opening ceremony of ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday (May 29), The News International reports.

Speaking on the occasion, Malala said she had been a big fan of cricket since her childhood.

She added "We now see more and more women take part in cricket. I think women should take part more in sport.”

Malala went on to says this sport connects different people from different cultures. We're all here to celebrate cricket.

The World Cup 2019 opening ceremony is taking place at the Mall, opposite Buckingham Palace in Central London.

Former England cricketer Andrew Flintoff and Comedian Paddy McGuinness hosted the ceremony.

After the challenge, Nobel Peace Prize Winner Malala Yousufzai, who attended the event in front of Buckingham Palace in London, couldn’t help but take a dig at India.

While former Indian skipper Anil Kumble and Bollywood actor Farhan Akhtar represented India in the game.

Things didn’t go according to plan for India as Kumble, who has been away from the game for a while and never been one to hit big, and Akhtar, who in his own words had “retired” in 2011, failed to put bat to the ball and scored just 19 runs, the least among all nations.

After the game, when host Shibani Dandekar asked her about her team’s performance, took a dig at India. “Pakistan, we were okay, not too bad. We came seventh. But at least we were not last like India,” she said.

Although the comment was made in jest, not everyone took it in the right spirit, with some people on Twitter calling it a display of “hate towards India”.

This, despite Malala quickly adding that she hopes that the game unites people and is played in the right spirit.

Following the 60-second challenge, the Cricket World Cup trophy was carried to the stage by 2015 World Cup-winning Australian captain Michael Clarke.