ICC has been rather proactive vis-à-vis the potential venue issues pertaining to Champions Trophy 2025, especially as far as matches involving India and Pakistan are concerned. As the tournament is scheduled to be held in Pakistan early in 2025, which means very shortly, doubts are being cast about the participation of the Indian cricket team due to the prevailing political tensions between the neighbours.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India has always maintained that playing in Pakistan would require the government’s green signal. After its meeting in Colombo, the ICC ratified the budget for Champions Trophy 2025 and included additional expenditure against contingencies of the Indian team playing elsewhere than in Pakistan.
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This therefore sets down a financial provision for ICC to find flexible solutions to ensure the successful execution of the tournament. It has left it to the ICC to make sure India’s involvement. According to a report in Zee News, the PCB has furnished all details, including a draft schedule in which all Indian matches, including the semi-finals and finals if they make it, will be played in Lahore.
It Is Confirm That India Will Not Travelling In Pakistan, ICC Is Providing More money To PCB For Sift Their Venue Of Indias Matches To Other Country 😉
– Jay Shah Has Done His Work So Nicely 😄 #ChampionsTrophy2025 #IPL2025 #PakistanCricket #SLvsIND
[Gautam Gambhir] pic.twitter.com/CL9CiExNko— crics.com (@crix_69) July 24, 2024
This much-anticipated match between India and Pakistan in this tournament is said to take place on March 1. This would be on the lines of what happened with Asia Cup 2023 as well, where a “Hybrid Model” was worked out where India played all its matches in Sri Lanka while the rest were hosted by Pakistan.
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The PCB, headed by Mohsin Naqvi, hasn’t had any official meeting with BCCI secretary Jay Shah or any other official over the issue of India’s participation. The PCB has assigned the task to ICC to finalize and declare the schedule of the tournament and also to ask for confirmation from BCCI with regard to India’s participation in the tournament. This step adopted by the PCB shows a way out of the logistical problem without compromising on the integrity and competitive spirit of Champions Trophy 2025.
