With the Champions Trophy 2025 months away, a top official of the Board for Cricket Control in India has opened up on the prospects of the Indian cricket team’s visit to Pakistan for the mega event.
BCCI Vice-President Rajeev Shukla has also linked the travel of the team to Pakistan with permission from the Indian government.
“No decision has been taken Prima facie. But our policy is that for international tours, we always seek the permission of the government. It’s up to the government to decide whether our team should go to any country or our team should not go to any country,” said the BCCI official while speaking to the Indian media.
“In this case al-so, whatever the government will decide, we will abide by that,” added Shukla.
His remarks came at a time when Pakistan is scheduled to host the prestigious tournament in February next year, despite ambiguity over India’s participation.
To be noted, the Men in Blue have not travelled to Pakistan since 2008 and their bilateral series was last held in 2012-13. The next edition of the competition is expected to have eight elite teams participate with India, Australia, New Zealand, England, South Africa, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan based on their performances in the 2023 ODI World Cup.
The PCB feels that all seven teams which will play in the Champions Trophy, except India, have already played in Pakistan and India has no strong reason not to come here. Three venues — Karachi, Rawalpindi and Lahore — will host the matches of eight teams and according to the proposed schedule sent by PCB to ICC, all of India’s matches will be held in Lahore.
