Champions Trophy 2025 is to be organized on Pakistani soil. 8 teams will participate in it. Pakistan Cricket Board has already sent the draft schedule to ICC. There was no discussion on the schedule of Champions Trophy in the ICC meeting held in Colombo, Sri Lanka. But the budget of this tournament was approved in the meeting. But it is not yet confirmed whether the Indian team will go to Pakistan to participate in the Champions Trophy or not. Now the PCB has left it to the International Cricket Council to convince the BCCI to send its team to Pakistan.
Pakistan Cricket Board leaves the job to ICC
A PCB source said that the PCB has now done what was expected of it as the host of the Champions Trophy. It has submitted the draft schedule of the tournament and also submitted the budget for the tournament. Now it is up to the ICC how quickly they circulate, discuss and finalise the Champions Trophy schedule. The PCB has suggested in the draft schedule that Lahore will host all of India’s matches including the semi-finals (if India qualifies) and the final.
He said that the PCB, on its part, has informed the ICC in writing about the tax rules, venue selection and approval from its government to host the Indian team in Pakistan for this big tournament. The source revealed that PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi did not hold any formal meeting with BCCI secretary Jay Shah or any other BCCI official on the sidelines of the ICC meetings but the conversation between Naqvi and Shah was cordial during the meetings.
Indian team did not go to Pakistan even for Asia Cup
BCCI has already said that playing cricket in Pakistan is completely the decision of the Indian government. Pakistan also got the hosting of Asia Cup 2023, but then the Indian team did not go to Pakistan for Asia Cup and it was played on a hybrid model. India’s matches were held in Sri Lanka. Bilateral series are not being held between the two countries due to terrorist activities. For this reason, both the teams are now seen playing only in ICC tournaments and fans of both the countries are waiting for the India vs Pakistan match. The Indian team won the Champions Trophy 2013 title. After this, Pakistan defeated India in the final of Champions Trophy 2017.