Key points:
- PCB Chief Mohsin Naqvi rejects the hybrid model for ICC Champions Trophy 2025
- Naqvi insists it’s the ICC’s responsibility to bring India to Pakistan for the tournament.
- The BCCI remains unwilling to send Team India to Pakistan due to political tensions.
- The Champions Trophy 2025 will start on February 19, featuring eight teams.
The ICC Champions Trophy 2025 will take place in Pakistan. This will be the country’s first-ever ICC event since the ICC ODI World Cup in 1996, co-hosted with India and Sri Lanka. The historic event is facing several problems due to political tensions.
Concerns are rising over whether Pakistan can handle the event alone. The BCCI is reportedly not ready to send Team India across the border after the political problems between the neighbors.
He has put the ball squarely in the ICC’s court on the issue of India’s participation. In response, Chairman PCB, Mohsin Naqvi, said not in his dreams would he want to co-host the Champions Trophy for the sake of India’s participation.
“PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi has made it clear to the ICC that Pakistan will host the 2025 Champions Trophy, and there will be no hybrid model. It’s ICC’s responsibility to bring India to Pakistan for the event, and not PCB’s task,” as per Pakistani media outlet, Express News.
This stand is in marked contrast to the just-concluded Asia Cup 2024, which was played on a hybrid model with matches of India playing in Sri Lanka. Even the knockouts of the tournament were scheduled in Sri Lanka, where India emerged champions.
Naqvi said that it is for the ICC to bring India to Pakistan in light of the prevailing geopolitical differences. India last visited Pakistan for the Asia Cup in 2008. All the same, despite Naqvi’s claims, the BCCI still seems reluctant to send the Indian team to Pakistan.
The ICC Champions Trophy 2025 will commence on February 19, 2025, with eight teams; one of these is going to be the host, Pakistan. Its final will be played on March 9, 2025, after an eight-year-long break.
