India To Not Travel To Pakistan For Champions Trophy 2025? CT To Be Held In UAE Or Sri Lanka

The Champions Trophy in 2025 is likely to be held in either Sri Lanka or the UAE, as India has expressed its unwillingness to travel to Pakistan for the tournament. According to a report by news agency ANI, India will request the ICC to move the Champions Trophy matches to either Sri Lanka or Dubai. “India will not travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy 2025. Will tell ICC to hold its matches in Dubai or Sri Lanka,” a BCCI source was quoted as saying by ANI.

This decision comes after Pakistan proposed hosting all of India’s matches in one city to minimize their travel, suggesting Lahore as the location. However, the Indian board has declined this offer. The ICC Champions Trophy is scheduled to take place from February to March 2025 in Pakistan. India has not participated in any cricket tournaments in Pakistan since the 2008 Asia Cup due to strained relations between the two countries.

The last bilateral series between India and Pakistan took place from December 2012 to January 2013 in India. Since then, the two nations have only competed against each other in ICC tournaments and the Asia Cup. If the Champions Trophy is relocated to Sri Lanka or the UAE, it would be the second multi-nation tournament in two years to be moved out of Pakistan due to India’s reluctance to travel there. The Asia Cup 2023 was played in a hybrid model, with all of India’s matches held in Sri Lanka while the rest of the tournament was hosted by Pakistan.

In May, BCCI Vice-President Rajeev Shukla stated that the Indian team would travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy only if permitted by the Indian central government. “In the case of the Champions Trophy, we will do whatever the Government of India will tell us to do. We send our team only when the Government of India permits us. So we will go according to the decision of the Indian government.”

Champions Trophy 2025

Pakistan are the defending champions of the Champions Trophy, having last won the tournament in 2017. The eight-nation Champions Trophy is scheduled to be held in Pakistan in February and March 2025, marking the first major cricket event in Pakistan since the 1996 World Cup, which it co-hosted with India and Sri Lanka. The match dates for the competition, running from February 19 to March 9, are yet to be announced. India is set to play six ODIs – three against Sri Lanka in an away series and three at home against England in early February before the Champions Trophy.