Former England captain Michael Vaughan said that the India-Pakistan relationship will only be worse amidst the recent 2025 Champions Trophy scheduling fiasco. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has confirmed to the ICC that the Indian team will not travel to Pakistan, where the tournament is slated to be played, due to security reasons. Yet, recent reports suggest Pakistan is unwilling to accept a hybrid model and wants to host the entire Champions Trophy as well.
Speaking about the ongoing debacle on the Club Prairie Fire Podcast, Vaughan said as quoted by Hindustan Times: “India have obviously announced that they would not be playing in Pakistan, looks like they’re going to play in Dubai. I do think by India not going to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy, I think that relationship now could be an off-image, it has not been great for a long time and I think it is going to get worse. Potentially we might not see India play Pakistan for a long long time.”
Michael Vaughan also talked about several cricket lovers around the world wanting India-Pakistan Tests and they even wished the sides would play each other in Australia or England as well.
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“It is the one thing I would really love to see in Test match cricket. India vs Pakistan, if you can’t play it on your own backyard, play it here in Australia, we’ll host it in the UK. There are so many supporters in the world that idolises India and Pakistan, that series would be a huge success, wherever you play. Its sad that India would not be going to Pakistan, it is going to affect the game,” again said Vaughan.
Meanwhile, Michael Vaughan has also picked Jasprit Bumrah as India’s key among players battles in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy
in Australia as well. Vaughan also said that Bumrah vs Australian opener Travis Head and Aussie pacer Pat Cummins vs Virat Kohli would be the most sought-after battles in the five-match Test series as well.
Vaughan told the Club Prairie Fire Podcast (via The Times of India): “I’ve got Cummins vs Kohli, world-class. And I think Bumrah bowling to Travis Head, I think that is going to be a great contest, cause Travis will try and just moose it. And Bumrah will probably be captain for the first couple of games, don’t know when’s Rohit’s gonna arrive. Pound for pound, I think Bumrah is the best bowler in the world so I’m looking forward to that kind of confrontation,” he added.
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“Bumrah features funnily in my line versus Steve Smith. I think Smith looked quite switched on in the couple of games he played in those ODIs. He looked like he was ready to knock out a decent summer. He would be really happy to be back in his No.4 position, that would be a good match-up,” he further added.
“The other one, this was one quite interesting the last time they were out here. Rishabh Pant versus Nathan Lyon. That’s the GOAT, as far as off-spinners are concerned, from the Australian point of view. Does he try to draw him out of the crease, does he go flat. “Rishabh can go through the gears as quickly as anyone, from complete defence to all out assault and attack on a bowler, so that would be fascinating,” he concluded.
