New Delhi: After much debate and deliberation around the entire issue of the ICC Champions Trophy, a partial resolution has finally come out whether team India will travel to Pakistan or not. So far, team India has not confirmed their plans regarding the Champions Trophy.
ICC has OFFICIALLY APPROVED the 2025 Champions Trophy schedule proposed by Pakistan.
The schedule will now be sent to the other 7 countries participating in the tournament. pic.twitter.com/M8trpMT97k
— Himanshu Pareek (@Sports_Himanshu) June 21, 2024
However, even if Team India decides to play in the ICC Champions Trophy, reports from the Telegraph reveal that the Final will take place in Dubai if Team India qualifies for the Final. Furthermore, the report claims that India can play all of their games in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) if they decide to not travel to Pakistan.
However, in the past few weeks, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has shown confidence that the tournament will take place in Pakistan in its entirety.
“The Indian team should come…”- PCB Chief Mohsin Naqvi
While the tussle goes on with BCCI, the official board which governs Indian cricket, Pakistan Cricket Board chief Mohsin Naqvi has shown his confidence that the ICC Champions Trophy will be held in Pakistan only including the Indian team. In a recent interview, Naqvi told reporters that-
The Indian team should come. I don’t see them cancelling or postponing coming here, and we are confident we will host all the teams in the Champions Trophy in Pakistan…
🇮🇳 Skipper Rohit Sharma and head coach Gautam Gambhir have their eyes firmly set on 4 major ICC trophies – 2025 WTC Final, Champions Trophy 2025, T20 World Cup 2026, and the 2027 ODI World Cup – the stage is set for Team India to make history! 🇮🇳🔥
📷: BCCI/ICC#TeamIndia… pic.twitter.com/uLtswBDuBy
— SportsTiger (@The_SportsTiger) October 8, 2024
Which are the countries taking part in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025?
According to the rules, the top 8 teams from last year’s ICC ODI World Cup 2023 are eligible for the ICC Champions Trophy. The teams are:
- India
- Bangladesh
- Pakistan (Hosts)
- Australia
- New Zealand
- South Africa
- England
- Afghanistan
Sri Lanka which finished in 9th place in the 2023 ICC World Cup has an outside chance given that the Indian Cricket Team decided to pull out of the tournament in the last moment.