Pakistan’s newly appointed white-ball captain, Mohammad Rizwan, wishes that the Indian cricket team travel to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Scheduled for February-March next year, there is much uncertainty over Team India coming to their neigbouring nation due to the tensions between the two nations.
Rizwan hopeful of India in Pakistan for Champions Trophy
Team India hasn’t travelled to Pakistan since 2008, but the Men in Green have reached the shores multiple times since, including the last year’s ODI World Cup 2023. Rizwan, who enjoys a cordial relationship with some of the Indian players, recalled how much love he and the Pakistan team received when he travelled to India last year and ensured that the Men in Blue would get the same adoration if they were to come to Pakistan next year for the ICC Champions Trophy.
“Fans here (Pakistan) love Indian cricketers, and they would be thrilled to see the Indian team play in Pakistan. If they come, we will give them a warm welcome,” Rizwan told The News International.
India’s status regarding ICC Champions Trophy
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has always maintained that travelling to Pakistan isn’t a decision they can make. The Men in Blue will only travel if the Indian government allows them to. In the last 16 years, that hasn’t happened once. With around 4 months left before the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 kicks off, it seems Team India won’t land in Pakistan, and it’ll have to be played in a hybrid model much like the Asia Cup 2023.
Pakistan has suggested a peculiar hack for India traveling, whereby they’ll play the match in Lahore and return to Chandigarh or Delhi. Even if the plan was ‘really’ suggested, the BCCI has outrightly denied any such thing would happen.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) seems to be on track, and the ICC seems satisfied as well with their preparations so far. But, ultimately, given how much power the BCCI holds, everything hinges on them. The England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) CEO, Richard Gould, has also claimed that the ICC Champions Trophy isn’t possible without India. It seems certain that irrespective of what PCB does, the final say will be BCCI’s.
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