Shoaib Akhtar Says Pakistan Should Beat India on Their Home Ground

Former Pakistan cricketer and Rawalpindi Express Shoaib Akhtar vented out his frustration with how the ICC Champions Trophy issue has dragged on.

A hybrid model has reportedly been agreed upon by all parties involved, but the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), which holds the hosting rights, has made certain demands to approve the model.

Initially, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) wanted to host the entire Champions Trophy tournament in Pakistan. However, after recent talks with the International Cricket Council (ICC), they decided to ease their position and agreed to a hybrid model for the tournament.

Under this hybrid model, some matches will be played in Pakistan and others in neutral locations, such as Dubai.

Now, the PCB is asking the ICC to apply the same hybrid model to all future ICC events that will be held in India. This means they want events in India to also have matches played in other countries, rather than being held entirely in India.

Akhtar supported the PCB's demand for a bigger share of the revenue due to the hybrid format of the tournament.

However, he disagreed with the PCB's decision to avoid traveling to India for future ICC events. He believes Pakistan should send their team to India and work on building a stronger squad to defeat India on their home turf.

The latest updates on the Champions Trophy state that if India reaches the knockout stages of the tournament, their matches will be played in Dubai.

This includes one of the semi-finals and the final. However, if India doesn't make it to the knockout rounds, then both semi-finals and the final will be moved to Pakistan.

In other words, whether the semi-finals and final are held in Dubai or Pakistan depends on whether India advances to the next stages of the tournament.