Team India will not travel to Pakistan for next year’s ICC Champions Trophy.© AFP
The Indian cricket team will not travel to Pakistan for next year’s ICC Champions Trophy, a tournament which has been revived after a gap of 8 years. According to a report in the Indian Express, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has communicated their decision to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). The BCCI cited security concerns for their decision and expressed their desire to play all their games in Dubai, as per the report. “This has been our stance and there is no reason to change that. We have written to them and asked them to shift our games to Dubai,” a BCCI official told the Indian Express on the condition of anonymity.
The last tournament that Pakistan hosted was the Asia Cup in 2023, conducted in a ‘Hybrid Model’, with the Indian team playing its matches in Sri Lanka, including the final.
However, the latest development comes after India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting at Islamabad.
Recent reports had also claimed that the PCB approached BCCI with the idea of their team returning to India after every game. However, it seems that the BCCI has also rejected this option and are adamant not to travel to Pakistan.
ICC’s is unlikely to interfere in India’s refusal to travel Pakistan as they can’t force any Board to go against its government policy.
According to the tentative schedule proposed by the PCB, the marquee Champions Trophy match between arch-rivals India and Pakistan is slated in Lahore on March 1 next year.
The tournament is slated to begin on February 19, 2025, with Pakistan facing New Zealand in Karachi. The final is scheduled on March 9 at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium.
According to the tentative schedule, all of India’s matches have been kept in Lahore for security and logistical reasons.
The PCB is pushing the ICC to announce the schedule for the tournament by next week as some top officials of the world governing body are due to visit Lahore again next week.
(With PTI Inputs)
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