India hasn’t travelled to Pakistan to play cricket owing to ongoing political tensions and security concerns between the two countries. It is no secret that both nations have been facing each other only in the ICC and ACC events and it’s been more than a decade since they played a bilateral series. The last time the Indian cricket team traveled to Pakistan was in 2008 for the Asia Cup.
Case in point, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has proposed a preliminary schedule for the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 to the apex cricket body ICC and has picked Lahore, Karachi, and Rawalpindi as the potential venues to host the marquee event. It’s reported that Lahore will be considered as the main venue for Team India, provided they participate in the tournament.
Lahore has been chosen as the lone venue for all India matches: Report
According to a report from Cricbuzz, PCB has shortlisted Lahore as the preferred venue for all India matches in the upcoming Champions Trophy, slated to be held in Pakistan in mid-February next year. This decision was made because Lahore is close to the border, which will make things much easier for Indian fans in terms of travel, particularly for those who are coming from across the border.
While it is confirmed that Pakistan will be hosting the Champions Trophy 2025, there is still no clarity on whether or not India will be travelling to their country. There is no update regarding India’s interest to travel to Pakistan to take part in the tournament and the BCCI hasn’t responded to it yet. We all know that India didn’t travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup tournament last year.
BCCI refused to travel to Pakistan due to disapproval from the Indian government and India played all their games in Sri Lanka. However, if India travel to Pakistan for Champions Trophy 2025, then they will reportedly be playing all the games of Champions Trophy in Lahore.
How ICC Champions Trophy 2025 will be played?
Pakistan who are the defending champions, will be hosting the tournament for the first time. As the host nation, they automatically qualified for the Champions Trophy whereas India, Australia, England, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and South Africa are the other teams that secured their spots by finishing in the top eight on the points table in the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023 tournament. The aforementioned eight teams will be split into two groups of four. The top two from each group will advance to the semi-finals. The winners of the semi-finals will compete in the final.