The BCCI this week informed the ICC about the Indian government’s decision not to allow India to travel to Pakistan. This decision was formally communicated by the ICC to the PCB on Friday, which has now approached its government for the next steps.
“The ICC has sent an email to the PCB informing them of the BCCI’s inability to send its team to Pakistan,” a PCB spokesperson told ESPNcricinfo. “No reason was given. We have not received anything in writing from the BCCI. The PCB has informed the federal government of the situation.”
The PCB has taken a tougher stance on organizing the tournament – the first ICC event in the country since 1996 – with board chairman Mohsin Naqvi clearly ruling out a hybrid host model on Friday. Such a model, used in the 2023 Asia Cup, which Pakistan hosts, would see India play its games outside Pakistan and all of India’s away games in Pakistan.
Given that Naqvi is the Interior Minister of Pakistan, this position can be assumed to represent the government in this case. An official familiar with the situation said the Pakistan government will consider instructing the PCB to stand firm, reject the hybrid model and insist that the entire tournament be held in Pakistan. That would be a directive that the PCB would not be in a position to ignore, just as the BCCI is incapable of acting against its own government’s directive.
This leaves the ICC, 100 days before the start of the Champions Trophy, in an especially difficult situation, with simmering political issues between its two main sitting members threatening to boil over – not surprising given that Naqvi’s BCCI counterpart, Jay Shah, is the son of Naqvi’s counterpart in the Indian government, Home Minister Amit Shah. The situation will not become simpler when Shah assumes the presidency of the ICC on December 1.
The India-Pakistan rivalry is the marquee game in all global events, and organizers have long made sure they face each other at least once in every tournament since the 2013 Champions Trophy. attention. But indications within this PCB administration are that their government may not allow Pakistan to travel to India for future ICC events – the 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup is the next such event. On Friday, Naqvi warned that “gestures” made by Pakistan in the past might not be repeated: he was referring to Pakistan’s trip to India for the men’s ODI World Cup in 2023, shortly after India refused to travel to Pakistan for Asia Cup.
Last month, ECB Chief Executive Richard Gould made clear the importance of India and Pakistan to ICC events and the global cricket ecosystem. “If you play the Champions Trophy without India or Pakistan, the broadcast rights don’t exist and we need to protect them,” he said, visiting Pakistan during England’s Test series in the country.
An event in Lahore this week to launch the schedule and begin the 100-day countdown has been postponed due to the developments. Instead, the PCB is expected to press the ICC this week to get in writing from the BCCI the reason for its decision and for what specific reasons the Indian government is preventing its team from traveling. The ICC has been contacted for comment.
As of now, the eight-team event will be played between February 19 and March 9 in Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi. The stadiums at the three locations underwent renovations and modernizations to varying degrees to be ready for the event. Pakistan are the current champions, having won the event in 2017.
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