The Champions Trophy 2025 is scheduled for 19 February but uncertainty persists regarding the tournament’s venue. Although Pakistan is the official host of the mega event and the International Cricket Council (ICC) has confirmed them as hosts in the latest promotional video of the Champions Trophy, but concerns remain.
Recently, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced that they hadn’t received authorization from the Indian government to travel to Pakistan for the ICC tournament. At the same time, all the other eight cricket boards confirmed their travel to Pakistan.
A few days back ICC told the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) that the Champions Trophy 2025 or any other ICC tournament is not possible without India. In recent days, PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi stated “We will ensure that Champions Trophy is held in Pakistan. We have written a letter to ICC, we are awaiting a response. We are just talking to ICC. I believe sports and politics should not be mixed together. I am just hoping for a positive result. I think no one can give us a tough time. Every ICC member has its rights, things cannot function like this. I am just hoping for a positive result when it comes to the Champions Trophy,” This statement underscored the PCB’s resolute stance on their decision this time and ICC may find it difficult this time to convince the Pakistan Cricket Board for the hybrid model.
ICC has called the emergency board meeting on 26th November (Tuesday) where members of BCCI, PCB, and all the other boards will join virtually and the final decision on the venue of the Champions Trophy 2025 will be taken in this meeting. The last time PCB accepted the hybrid model for the Asia Cup 2023 where India played all their matches in Sri Lanka but this time PCB looks more firm on its decision to host the entire tournament in Pakistan.
Emergent ICC board meeting to take call on #ChampionsTrophy2025 on Tuesday. BCCI PCB including all board members to join the meeting virtually.
— Nitin K Srivastav (@Nitin_sachin) November 22, 2024
What if PCB doesn’t accept a hybrid model?
Reportedly, if PCB doesn’t accept a hybrid model in the meeting, the decision will be taken by voting of 12 full members and 3 associate members of the ICC. All the cricket fans and broadcasters will keep an eye on the meeting as it’ll decide the future of the Champions Trophy 2025. According to a report by ARY news, the current BCCI secretary, and the forthcoming ICC President Jay Shah might likely to have telephonic discussion with PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi.
Jasir Basharat is a cricket enthusiast capturing the heart of the game through insightful analysis and storytelling sharing his passion for the sport through engaging narratives. He is a business graduate from University of Kashmir.
