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Champions Trophy 2025 – Fresh venue one of three options, as ICC Board meets on Friday

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Champions Trophy 2025 – Fresh venue one of three options, as ICC Board meets on Friday

2024-11-28 11:36:34

The ICC board will congregate on Friday in the hopes of ending the saga of where and how the 2025 Champions Trophy will be played, with less than three months to the scheduled start of the event. They will consider three options:
The last of those options is the least likely, given the negative financial and commercial impact it will have on the tournament. The chances of the first, of a hybrid model, seem to have increased slightly, at least cricket-1462277″>going by the words of Mohsin Naqvi, the PCB chairman, in the early hours of Thursday morning in Pakistan. Asked specifically about the hybrid option multiple times, Naqvi said only that he would take whatever decision the ICC board makes to the Pakistan government.
While it may not necessarily constitute a softening in stance, it was slightly different to the previous public and emphatic rejections of a hybrid model being considered. Instead, Naqvi doubled down on the prospect of Pakistan no longer being willing or able to play in India which, given India is hosting a Women’s World Cup next year, an Asia Cup in 2025, a Men’s T20 World Cup in 2026 and a Champions Trophy in 2029, is going to be a recurring problem.

He did not say whether Pakistan will play India in this tournament, as they are drawn to by dint of being in the same group. A hybrid model, or an entire relocation, means they will be scheduled to play at a neutral venue; the game not taking place would also mean a significant commercial hit to the tournament.

“Whatever we do, we will make sure the best outcome for Pakistan is achieved,” Naqvi said multiple times. “But I repeat, and I am sure you know what I mean, it’s not possible that Pakistan play in India, and they don’t come here.”

Naqvi said the PCB would not be motivated by the pursuit of any financial settlement, quashing informal chatter that the PCB might try and negotiate a heftier hosting fee in return for a hybrid model, promising “that we’ll not just sell our rights out just for more money. This will never happen. But we’ll do whatever is best for Pakistan.” In any event, two countries for venues would require a revised tournament budget.

The meeting will be a virtual one and will likely come down to a vote only if a consensus isn’t reached within the board. But the pressure will be on to reach a resolution swiftly, as time runs out before the tournament and preparations for it begin. An alternate or additional venue will have to be chosen depending on what option the board chooses, and a schedule for the event has to be finalised and released.

Additionally, the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore and the National Stadium in Karachi – two of the Pakistan venues – are undergoing significant renovation and upgradation work, in a race against time to be ready for the tournament. The PCB has assured the ICC board that the venues will be ready for the tournament by the end of this year.

Pakistan won hosting rights to the Champions Trophy in November 2021 and, if it goes to plan, it will be the first ICC event they have hosted since the 1996 World Cup. But its status was thrown into disarray when the BCCI informed the ICC earlier this month that its team had not been given permission by the Indian government to travel to Pakistan.

That was hardly a surprise, given no India team has toured Pakistan since 2008, with the Mumbai attacks later that year throwing relations between the two countries into a downward spiral. Pakistan have visited India three times since then, for a bilateral series in 2012-13, the 2016 T20 World Cup and, most recently, the 2023 ODI World Cup. That trip only happened after a government committee cleared it, despite considerable opposition within certain members.

The PCB had to adopt a hybrid model for the Asia Cup just before the World Cup but had hoped that going to India would result in a reciprocal gesture for the Champions Trophy.



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