ICC Champions Trophy: Pakistan Cricket Board proposes Indian cricket team to travel from India to Pakistan on match days and return

Hyderabad: In an attempt to make India play the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in Pakistan, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and sent a proposal to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) asking the Indian cricket team to have their base in New Delhi or Chandigarh and use chartered flights to Lahore if the team is not willing to stay in Lahore.

The PCB has slotted all India’s matches at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore due to security and ease of logistics.

India have been provisionally scheduled to play against Bangladesh (February 20), Pakistan (February 23) and New Zealand (March 2) in the league stages of the tournament.

Given the political scenario between India and Pakistan, India have last travelled to Pakistan in 2008 and the teams do not play any bilateral series too. However, the teams have played each other in ICC tournaments, notably the ODI and T20 World Cups.

Given the Indian government’s stance on travelling and playing in Pakistan, the ICC Champions Trophy could be held in a hybrid mode with the ICC mulling options between Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates.

The Asia Cup 2023, for which Pakistan were the hosts, was played in a hybrid model with India playing all their matches in Sri Lanka after the team refused to travel to Pakistan.

The ICC and other stakeholders are keen on India participating in the ICC Champions Trophy as the global cricket body and other stakeholders are keen on protecting broadcast rights and other coffers of the ICC.

Given such a scenario, the PCB reached out to the BCCI and proposed that India could stay in New Delhi or Chandigarh and given Lahore’s proximity to India, the team can fly on a chartered flight to Lahore for the matches and come back to India the same day.

It remains to be seen how the BCCI would react to the proposal.

The ICC Champions Trophy 2025 will be played from February 19 to March 9, with matches scheduled in Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Karachi.