The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has sent the names of the venue along with a proposed schedule for the tournament.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has reportedly proposed three venues that can host the 2025 Champions Trophy. The PCB sent the proposal with the finalised venues after the International Cricket Council (ICC), sent a team to conduct recces.
Read More: ‘Chase Master’ Virat Kohli overtakes Shikhar Dhawan to achieve this record in IPL
According to ESPNCricinfo, Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi are the three cities named in the PCB’s proposal. The board has been racing against time to upgrade the venues with the Champions Trophy expected to be held in the mid-February window. The last edition of the tournament was held in 2017 where Pakistan stunned India in the final to win the title. This was initially thought to be the last edition of the tournament but the ICC brought it back in 2022 for the 2023-27 cycle with Pakistan being awarded the hosting rights for the 2025 edition.
“We’ve sent the schedule for the matches in Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi said at a press conference in Lahore. “The ICC’s security team came and we had a very good meeting. They looked at arrangements here and we’ll also share stadium upgrade plans with them. We’re continuously in touch with the ICC. We are trying to ensure we host a very good tournament in Pakistan.”
Read More: Biggest Chase, Most Sixes: Records Galore as PBKS Down KKR in Historic Chase at Eden Gardens
Question over India’s participation
The biggest question continues to be whether India would agree to send a team to Pakistan for the tournament. India had refused to send a team to Pakistan last year for the Asia Cup. The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) eventually adopted a hybrid model for the event with all of India’s games and a vast majority of matches overall ending up being played in Sri Lanka.
The two sides have met a number of times recently in multi-nation tournaments and this has led to calls from former cricketers for India and Pakistan to play a Test series on neutral soil. India captain Rohit Sharma recently said that he would love to face Pakistan in red ball cricket. “They are a good team, superb bowling line-up, good contest. Especially if you play in overseas conditions, that will be awesome,” said the 36-year-old. “I would love to. It would be a great contest between two sides… so why not?” Rohit had said in a podcast on Youtube.
