With around seven months to go before the start of the upcoming season of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, it’s yet to be confirmed whether India is going to make their trip to Pakistan for the tournament, as they are waiting for approval from the Indian Government, whose decision is going to be final regarding their travel planning.
Due to their poor political relationships, both of these sides haven’t met each other in a bilateral series since 2012. Even though Pakistan has traveled to India twice since that period, for the 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2023 ODI World Cup, the latter hasn’t tripped to the other side of the border since the 2008 Asia Cup.
The Pakistan Cricket Board isn’t ready to accept the hybrid model for the competition, which India is trying to activate just like the 2023 Asia Cup, to play their games of the Champions Trophy in either Sri Lanka or Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
ICC yet to discuss venues for India ‘outside Pakistan’
A recent report has confirmed that the International Cricket Council (ICC) sanctioned a budget of around $65 million during the recent Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Colombo, which approved their expenses related to hosting several games in locations other than Pakistan.
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However, the report also addressed that the topic of India’s potential involvement absence from the tournament in the case they are forced to travel to Pakistan wasn’t among the discussions at the ICC AGM. Even though they have kept a different plan in other cases.
“PCB has signed the Host Agreement and has worked with management to draft an event budget, which is submitted to F&CA for approval.” The Chief Executives Committee (CEC) approved the notes. “Management has also approved an estimate of the increase in the cost of staging the event if it is necessary to play some matches outside Pakistan.”
The note also observes how so much renovation work has been done behind the three venues for the Champions Trophy- Lahore, Karachi, and Rawalpindi, after the meeting and inspections proposed the match venues in March 2024.
“A planning meeting and inspection of proposed match venues took place in Pakistan in March 2024. A significant amount of renovation work is underway in all three venues to upgrade facilities.” The CEC note further remarked.
Regarding the budget, around $35 million has been distributed to the competition itself, while an additional $20 million has been placed for participation and the prize money. The rest $10 million has been approved to cover the production costs of televising the 15 matches in 20 days.
In a previous report, it was expressed that all of these budget allocations were made by the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the ICC< Ankur Khanna, who spent around three days in June before collaborating with Javed Murtuza, who is the CFO of the Pakistan Cricket Board.
The ICC has reportedly circulated a tentative schedule to all the relevant parties, such as the broadcasters and the participating teams, where the proposed dates address that during the event, all the games for India will be played in Lahore, including the mouth-watering clash against the Green Brigade.
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They also have found a week-long duration from February 12 to 18, which is expected to serve as the ‘support period’ for the participating teams, which will allow them to be part of the practice games in preparation for the upcoming competition.
In the case of any unforeseen circumstances that could affect the final game, March 10 has been set as a reverse day.