The International Cricket Council’s annual conference in Colombo next week can turn stormy if the Board of Control for Cricket in India expresses its reluctance to send its team to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy in February 2025.
It’s still unclear whether the BCCI would make this stand official during the ICC board meeting, to be held from July 19, but indications are that it wants to follow the hybrid model used during the Asia Cup last September.
Under this model, the BCCI wants India to play all their matches in the UAE or Sri Lanka this time too, sources told The Telegraph.
Union home ministry sources declined a formal comment but said no official instruction on the subject had been issued to the BCCI.
Secretary Jay Shah will represent the BCCI at the ICC meeting where Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Mohsin Naqvi will also be present.
Shah had announced at the BCCI’s annual general meeting in 2022, almost a year before the Asia Cup, that the Indian team wouldn’t be touring Pakistan for the intra-continent tournament.
It led to a backlash, with Pakistan going to the extent of considering not
travelling to India for the 2023 World Cup.
The BCCI’s standard explanation for the snapping of cricketing ties with Pakistan has been Islamabad’s alleged patronage of cross-border terrorism, and Indian government policy. The recent terror strikes in Kashmir are believed to have hardened the BCCI’s stand.
India last toured Pakistan during the 2008 Asia Cup, where Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team finished runners-up. Current captain Rohit Sharma and the newly appointed head coach, Gautam Gambhir, were part of that squad.
ICC sources said the world body wouldn’t comment without an official response from the BCCI and would want to believe that the channels of communication are still open.
The PCB brass didn’t respond to calls from this newspaper but are learnt to be determined to turn any Indian refusal to travel to Pakistan into a big issue. The Pakistan board could also opt for a tit-for-tat approach when India co-hosts the T20 World Cup with Sri Lanka in 2026.
An ICC security team has visited the Pakistani cities that are to host the Champions Trophy matches. The tournament is likely to be held from February 19 to March 9, according to a draft schedule, with Karachi, Rawalpindi and Lahore earmarked as venues.
India’s matches in Pakistan are scheduled only at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
Eight teams — India, Pakistan, Australia, England, South Africa, New Zealand, Bangladesh and Afghanistan — will be clubbed into two groups.
While bilateral series between the two neighbours have been stopped since 2012-13, when Pakistan toured India for a three-match one-day series, both teams have regularly participated in ICC tournaments.
The Champions Trophy will be Pakistan’s first major cricket event since it co-hosted the 1996 World Cup with India and Sri Lanka.
India’s growing clout in the ICC has often been a matter of heartburn for the PCB, and how it responds in case India refuse to travel to Pakistan could have huge ramifications. There is talk that the PCB could demand that India be replaced with Sri Lanka in that scenario.
It’s possible that the BCCI might decide on a wait-and-watch policy and delay its call on travelling to Pakistan till after the ICC meeting. However, the PCB will surely want the BCCI to make a clear statement on the subject.
