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The ICC Champions Trophy 2025 is set to take place in Pakistan in February-March with 8 teams participating in the tournament. The last time, the tournament happened in 2017 and Pakistan won the final by beating Team India. Now, the PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) has the right to host the Champions Trophy 2025 edition and they have already submitted a tentative schedule to the ICC, which includes all the games in Pakistan. However, it is highly unlikely that Team India will travel to Pakistan to play the tournament. Today, we will talk about it in detail and see why Team India is not going to Pakistan and what are the other possibilities regarding the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 edition. So let’s start.
PCB has the right to host the Champions Trophy 2025
Right now, the hosting rights of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 are with PCB. They have even submitted a draft schedule of the tournament to the ICC (International Cricket Council), which includes all the games in Pakistan. The PCB has decided to hold 7 games in Lahore, 5 in Rawalpindi, and 3 in Karachi in that draft.
Karachi will host the opening game of the tournament, and also one of the semifinals. Rawalpindi will host the other semifinal and Lahore will be the venue for the final, according to that draft schedule.
The draft also includes all Team India games, which will happen in Lahore (including the semifinal, if the team reaches there).
Team India unlikely to go to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy 2025
It is highly unlikely that Team India will travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy 2025. That’s because of the expected non-approval from the Indian government. The Indian government will not allow the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) to send the Indian cricket team to Pakistan.
“The government’s decision on this matter will be final, as we have not yet confirmed it internally. Since this is an ICC event, we do not have the authority to make any unilateral decisions. However, more details may emerge during the next ICC meeting.” – a media source was quoted as saying.
Why Indian government won’t allow BCCI to send Team India to Pakistan?
There are a few reasons behind the Indian government not allowing BCCI to send Team India to Pakistan, but one of the main reasons is political tension between the two countries. There are a few other reasons like security concerns, terrorism concerns, and previous incidents between the two countries.
Team India hasn’t travelled to Pakistan for the last 16 years. The team last travelled to Pakistan in 2008. Although Pakistan came to India quite a few times in this period. They came to India for T20 WC 2016 and ODI WC 2023 as well.
Because of the political tensions between the two countries, the Indian government also don’t allow Team India to play a bilateral series against Pakistan. The two teams last played a bilateral series in 2013, when Pakistan came to India for a 3-match ODI series. However, India and Pakistan are continuously playing against each other in multination tournaments like ICC T20 World Cup, ODI World Cup, Champions Trophy, and, Asia Cup. The two teams last played recently in the T20 WC 2024. India won that close encounter by 6 runs.
What will happen if Team India doesn’t go to Pakistan?
See, if India won’t go to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, there are a few possibilities in this case. The first option is Team India not participating in the tournament, and another team replacing them. But as we all know, this is just an option. The ICC can’t afford a tournament without India.
So now, the only option is to either move the tournament to another country or apply a hybrid model, just like last year’s Asia Cup. The PCB was supposed to host the whole Asia Cup 2023 tournament in Pakistan. But because India had not travelled to Pakistan, the PCB went with a hybrid model, in which Indian team matches and the knockout matches were held in Sri Lanka.
PCB might look for a hybrid model in Champions Trophy 2025, in which India’s games and the knockouts might happen at different venues (other than Pakistan). Also, the other option would be to shift the tournament to different countries like Sri Lanka, UAE, etc.
↻ ICC Champions Trophy 2025: What You Need To Know
Conclusion
Let’s see how things panned out. We will get to know more developments after the next ICC meeting. The next ICC meeting is set to be held in Sri Lanka this month. PCB will look to put their point in that meeting.
The ICC Champions Trophy 2025 will likely happen from February 19 to March 09. March 01 is a tentative date for the marquee clash between the arch-rivals India and Pakistan, according to the draft sent by PCB to ICC.
What do you think? Who will host the CT 2025? Will it be Pakistan for the whole tournament? Or will there be a change like shifting the tournament or applying a hybrid model?
FAQs:-
(1) Who won the first-ever ICC Champions Trophy?
South Africa won the first-ever ICC Champions Trophy in 1998.
(2) Which team has won the most Champions Trophy in 2025?
Australia and India have two ICC Champions Trophy titles.
(3) Who scored the most runs in Champions Trophy history?
Chris Gayle has scored 791 runs, the most in tournament history.
(4) Why Champions Trophy didn’t happen after 2017?
Because of the ICC’s goal of having one tournament for each of the three formats of international cricket, the Champions Trophy was scrapped after 2017. However, it has been reinstalled and is now set to take place in 2025.
