New Delhi. The Indian cricket team has not even returned home after winning the T20 World Cup and its biggest match of 2025 has been decided. The ICC Champions Trophy is to be held in Pakistan next year. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has released the tentative schedule of the Champions Trophy. In this, the India-Pakistan match has been scheduled on March 1. However, the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) has not yet agreed to this. The tournament will be played from February 19 to March 9 next year. March 10 will be the ‘reserve day’ in this.
A senior member of the ICC board on Wednesday gave information about the tentative schedule of the Champions Trophy. According to sources, PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi has submitted the schedule of 15 matches. In this, India’s matches have been kept in Lahore due to security and ‘logistical’ reasons. Naqvi was invited to Barbados to watch the T20 World Cup final. A total of 15 matches will be played between 8 teams in the Champions Trophy 2025.
ICC board member said, ‘PCB has submitted the draft of the 15 match schedule of ICC Champions Trophy. In this, seven matches have been kept in Lahore, three matches in Karachi and five matches in Rawalpindi.’ The source said, ‘The first match has been kept in Karachi while two semi-finals will be held in Karachi and Rawalpindi while the final will be held in Lahore. All the matches of India (including the semi-final in case the team qualifies) have been kept in Lahore.’ India has been placed in Group A along with Pakistan, Bangladesh and New Zealand. Group B includes Australia, South Africa, England and Afghanistan.
Recently, ICC tournament chief Chris Tetley met PCB chairman Naqvi in Islamabad. Earlier, the security team of the world body inspected the venue and other arrangements. The last time Pakistan hosted the Asia Cup in 2023 as per the ‘hybrid model’, India played its matches in Sri Lanka. The Indian government did not allow the players to go to Pakistan.
The source said, ‘All the board heads (other than BCCI) of the participating countries of the ICC Champions Trophy have given full support but BCCI will update the ICC after consulting the government.’ At the same time, ICC cannot force any board to go against the policy of its government. It will be interesting to see what decision BCCI takes in this matter. (input language)
Tags: Champions Trophy, india vs pakistan
FIRST PUBLISHED : July 3, 2024, 19:24 IST