The Champions Trophy 2025 to be hosted by Pakistan is still a fair distance away, but the pressing question of whether India will travel to the neighbour nation, has been of much attention, lately. On Friday, there were reports that BCCI won’t let Team India go to Pakistan and that Sri Lanka will take the vacant spot, in India’s absence.
BCCI Undecided on Champions Trophy 2025
But a day later, BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla has come up with a clarification of sorts. “We do not know which source gave such information. BCCI has not put out any official information regarding this,” Rajeev Shukla told ThePrint.
In fact, in May earlier this year, he had made it clear, that the decision of India travelling to Pakistan only rests on the shoilders of the government. “In the case of the Champion Trophy, we will do whatever the Government of India will tell us to do. We send our team only when the Government of India permits us to do so. So we will go according to the decision of the Indian government.”
Gautam Gambhir’s First Big Assignment
If India does get the nod to go, then it would be new coach Gautam Gambhir first ICC event. The Champions Trophy 2025 is scheduled to begin in Feb next year. It could be a significant tournament in the careers of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Meanwhile, none of the current crop of players have been to Pakistan.
The last time Team India went to Pakistan, was in 2008 for the Asia Cup. Thereafter in 2013, the bilateral relations between the two also stopped. What’s noteworthy is that India did not go to Pakistan for the Asia Cup in 2023 as well, and all their matches were held in Sri Lanka.