Almost at the eleventh hour of the International Cricket Council (ICC) announcing the potential schedule of the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025, draft scheduled to start on the second week of February, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has made it clear that they won’t send their team to Pakistan for the event.
The board informed the ICC this week of their decision of the government of India to not be allowed to travel the Rohit Sharma-led side to the other side of the border. The decision was initially transported by the ICC to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday, who have now approached the government for the next steps.
“The ICC emailed the PCB, informing them about the inability of the BCCI to send its team to Pakistan. No reason was given. There is nothing in writing we have received from the BCCI. The PCB has apprised the federal government of the situation.” The report of the ESPNcricinfo has stated as quoted by the PCB spokesperson.
India, as expected, will now try to activate the hybrid model, which they used to feature in last year’s Asia Cup, having played all of their fixtures in Sri Lanka, where, despite being the host, the Babar Azam-led side made their trip to Kandy to take on the Blue Brigade.
Pakistan ‘not prepared’ to accept India’s desired hybrid model
The PCB has adopted a stronger stance on their ability to host the competition, their first ICC event in the country in the last 28 years. The board chairman Mohsin Naqvi ruled out the hybrid model very clearly on November 08. Such a model will help India to play their games outside of Pakistan.
The draft schedule addressed that the runners-up from the 2017 season of the competition will play all of its games at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, as the mouth-watering clash between the two arch-rivals was scheduled to take place on March 01. All three grounds, including Rawalpindi and Karachi, have gone for renewal, which saw the latter missing two home Test matches against Bangladesh and England.
Naqvi is the interior minister of Pakistan, and that stance can be taken as the representative of the government in this case. The government has asked the PCB to stand firm on their decision, rejecting the hybrid model and insisting the entire tournament be held in their country. However, in that same way, BCCI is unable to act against its own government’s directive in this situation.
The tournament has nearly 100 days to go to begin, leaving the ICC in a difficult position of handling the political issues between its two leading full members. It’s another dramatic aspect that the counterpart in the BCCI of Naqvi is Jay Shah, who is the son of the government counterpart of Mohsin, Home Minister Amit Shah. The situation will get more complex when Shah takes over the role of the ICC chair on December 01.
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Last month, the ECB chief executive Richard Gould cleared out that it would be important to have both India and Pakistan for the ICC events to keep the broadcasters interested.
“If you play the Champions Trophy without India or Pakistan, the broadcast rights aren’t there, and we need to protect them.” He remarked during the recent Test series of England.
Naqvi has desired to get back the rewards of their gesture, which is traveling to India for the 2023 ODI World Cup, despite the former refusing to do so months before the event during the Asia Cup. It will be up to the ICC to arrange for the eight-team event due to start on February 19.