Will India Play ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in Pakistan? Uncertainty Looms Large Over Indian Cricket Team's Participation After ICC Says 'No Plans to Relocate' Tournament
There have been a lot of speculation already about the Indian cricket team going to Pakistan to compete in the ICC Champions Trophy in 2025. Recently, the ICC confirmed that the Champions Trophy won't be relocated from Pakistan.
Will India travel to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025? There were several speculations which did the rounds regarding the Indian cricket team's participation in the tournament with BCCI's reported reluctance in sending Rohit Sharma and co to their neighbouring country. It is a well-known fact that these two Asian nations do not share a good political relationship and for long it was speculated that the Indian cricket team's unwillingness to participate in the Champions Trophy 2025 in Pakistan might make the International Cricket Council (ICC) consider a hybrid model for the tournament. Fans would recall that a similar thing had happened with the Asia Cup in 2023 where the Asian Cricket Council, spearheaded by Jay Shah, conducted the tournament in a hybrid format with the Indian cricket team playing all its matches in Sri Lanka, including the contest against Pakistan. ICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardice Confirms Pakistan As Official Host for Champions Trophy 2025, Says 'It's Been Awarded' (Watch Video).
But it can be said that a hybrid model for the Champions Trophy 2025 is off the table for now after the ICC recently announced that they had no plans to relocate the tournament from Pakistan. This might have come as a big relief for Pakistan and with the tournament now set to stay in the country, it has cast a further shadow of uncertainty around India's participation. While it is for sure that the Indian national cricket team would be keen on taking part in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, what remains a big factor is the government's clearance.
Will India Play ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in Pakistan?
As mentioned before, talks of a hybrid model are off and Pakistan will solely host the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. The tournament is set to feature eight teams and as per plan, is reportedly scheduled to be played across three venues-Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi and should India end up travelling to Pakistan, they would play all of their games in Lahore. Earlier, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary, Rajeev Shukla had also stated that the decision to send the Indian cricket team to Pakistan rests solely on the government. PCB Chief Mohsin Naqvi Admits Poor Infrastructure Ahead of ICC Champions Trophy 2025, Says ‘None of Our Stadiums Are of International Standard’.
There also have been suggestions made by experts, which state that the Indian national cricket team should travel to Pakistan for their matches in ICC Champions Trophy 2025 but return back and stay in Amritsar, given the issue of reported security concerns in the neigbouring country. However, it is to be noted that there has been no development so far in this regard and it will be interesting to see what transpires as days pass.
India have not toured Pakistan since the 2008 Asia Cup and strained political ties meant that the two Asian giants have not competed against each other in bilateral cricket since 2013. The only time India and Pakistan play each other are in the ICC and ACC events. Interestingly, India were beaten by Pakistan in the final of the last edition of the ICC Champions Trophy which was held in England. Pakistan had come to India in 2016 and 2023 to compete in the T20 World Cup and ODI World Cups.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 13, 2024 02:24 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).