A handful of weeks are left before the International Cricket Council (ICC) announces the schedule for the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025, which for now has been scheduled to take place in Pakistan. But, the question has been raised if India would be making their trip across the border despite political issues.
Since the 2009 Asia Cup in Pakistan, the Blue Brigade hasn’t toured in the country even for once. The Green Brigade, however, came to India for the 2012 bilateral series, the last between the two countries. Later, when this country hosted the 2016 T20 World Cup and 2023 ODI World Cup, the Green Brigade was forced to make their travel.
The draft schedule has already been made by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), where they have slotted all the games of the Indian team at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore to avoid much travel around the country along with the final of the event.
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On Friday (October 05), India declared that S Jaishankar, who is the External Affairs Minister, will be making his trip to Pakistan in mid-October, which could end up being a green signal for the defending champions to host the tournament.
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He, however, has clarified that he won’t be holding any dialogue with Pakistan during his trip to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) conclave.
“It (visit) will be for a multilateral event. I’m not going there to discuss India-Pakistan relations. I’m going there to be a good member of the SCO.” S Jaishankar added at the sidelines of an event. “But, you know, since I’m a courteous and civil person, I will behave myself accordingly.”
It’s the first time in nearly nine years that the external affairs minister of India will be making their travel to Pakistan even as the ties between the two neighbors remain frosty over the terrorism between the two countries.
The Indian team has proposed the ‘Hybrid Model‘ to the Pakistan board, by, which they are ready to play their portion of the competition in one of Sri Lanka or Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). However, the chairman of PCB, Mohsin Naqvi, isn’t ready to give away any chunk of the event outside their country.
Notably, even during the Asia Cup 2023, which took place just before the ODI World Cup, the BCCI went through the same planning, where the Babar Azam-led side flew to Sri Lanka to face the Rohit Sharma-led side, who, in the end, went on to win the title.
The move, by that time, was felicitated by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) president, Jay Shah, who has now been promoted to be the new chair of the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Recently, the vice-president of the BCCI, Rajeev Shukla, spoke to the media during the second Test match in Kanpur between India and Bangladesh, where he stated that their decision to travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy has been shouldered towards the final call from the government.
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“No decision has been taken yet. But our policy is that for international tours, we always seek the government’s permission. It is up to the government to decide whether our team should go to a particular country or not.” Shukla was quoted as saying by the PTI.
“In this case as well [referring to India’s visit to Pakistan for CT], whatever the government decides, we will abide by it.” He added.
As per the current schedule, the tournament will start in the second week of February next year.