India’s home minister Amit Shah has cleared the air on whether the Indian team will visit Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 tournament.
Pakistan is scheduled to host the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in February-March. This will be the first ICC event in Pakistan since they last hosted the 1996 World Cup. Pakistan was due to be a co-host of the 2011 World Cup as well but was replaced by Bangladesh as teams were not comfortable traveling to Pakistan.
Pakistan is currently planning for the Champions Trophy 2025. The competition will be place in three stadiums in Pakistan (Karachi, Lahore, and Rawalpindi). In such a case, renovation work is underway in all of these stadiums.
The event runs from February 19 to March 9. During this period, eight teams would compete for the championship. India has been placed in Group A alongside Pakistan, New Zealand, and Bangladesh. Group B consists of England, South Africa, Australia, and Afghanistan.
As per the tentative schedule of the tournament submitted by the PCB to the ICC, India is slated to clash with Pakistan on March 1 in Lahore. All of India’s matches and if they qualify for the semi-final and final, will be hosted in Lahore.
Amit Shah gives a clear answer on whether Team India will travel to Pakistan for Champions Trophy
It is unclear whether the Indian squad will travel to Pakistan for this ICC competition or not. Team India’s tour of Pakistan is entirely dependent on the government. Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has hinted that the Indian team will not visit Pakistan.
In reality, Amit Shah released the BJP manifesto on Friday, just before the Jammu and Kashmir elections.
During this, he said, “Talks and bombs cannot go together. Until terrorism ends, we are not in favor of talks with Pakistan.”
This statement of Amit Shah is being linked to the Champions Trophy as well, signaling that India will not be traveling to Pakistan for the tournament. BCCI had already stated that it would seek the Indian government’s approval for traveling to Pakistan, which if going by Shah’s words, will most likely won’t be given.
Meanwhile, other reports have stated that BCCI is demanding to host India’s matches in Champions Trophy 2025 at a neutral venue. Discussions have taken place about the same and UAE and Sri Lanka are most likely venues for India’s matches in the Champions Trophy.
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