The Indian Men’s National Cricket Team may not travel to neighboring country Pakistan for next year’s Champions Trophy and the venue for next year’s mega event is anticipated to be relocated or a hybrid model similar to the Asia Cup 2023 is likely to be used, a source of BCCI told IANS yesterday.
Pakistan are set to host their first International Cricket event since the 1996 ODI World Cup and majority of the stadiums in the country are being renovated and upgraded. Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Mohsin Naqvi recently said that they would consider playing a bilateral series with arch rivals India if the BCCI agrees to send the Indian Team’s squad to Pakistan for the 2025 Champions Trophy.
On the other hand, the BCCI has completely shut down talks regarding a bilateral series between the two arch rivals once again and even went on to say that the Indian team is unlikely to travel to Pakistan for next year’s Champions Trophy.
“Forget playing a bilateral series against Pakistan, Team India are unlikely to travel to Pakistan for next year’s Champions Trophy. There’s a high possibility that the Champions Trophy might shift out of Pakistan or a hybrid model similar to the 2023 Asia Cup is also possible,” BCCI’s source said
“The BCCI will need an official permission from the Government of India for traveling to Pakistan. Currently, we don’t have good relations with Pakistan,” the source of BCCI added.
“The 2025 Champions Trophy is organized by the ICC, so it will be a tough call for India to travel to Pakistan but we cannot do anything without the permission of the Indian Government. Talking about the Bilateral series against them (Pakistan), I don’t see that happening in the near future, it’s impossible.
Talks regarding a bilateral series between India and Pakistan hit the news post Rohit Sharma’s interview in a podcast of Club Prairie Fire as he said that it would be amazing for the Indian Cricket team to play a test match against Pakistan in a neutral country.
“A test match between us and Pakistan in a foreign country will definitely be an outstanding contest. Pakistan is a really good team. They have a superb bowing unit and at the end of the day we want to compete against the best teams out there and I feel that it will be an outstanding match between the two teams,” said Rohit Sharma.
“We just play ICC tournament matches against them, so it does not matter. I am looking at just pure Cricket between both the teams. I am not interested in any other aspect. It’s Pure – Cricket, the game between a bat and a ball. India vs Pakistan in a bilateral series will be a great match,” Rohit added.
Pakistan and India last played a Test Match against each other in 2007-08 and their previous white ball bilateral series was in 2012-13 when the Men in Green toured India for a T20i and an ODI series.
Currently, the arch rivals face each other in the Asia cup and in ICC tournaments, including the 2023 ODI World Cup, where the Men in Blue defeated the Shaheens on home soil.
The Government of India currently does not allow the BCCI to organize a bilateral series against Pakistan due to poor relations and a large number of political tensions between the two countries.
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