AGM ends without BCCI-PCB talks on Champions Trophy 2025 as ICC set to resolve the matter

The four-day International Cricket Council (ICC) Annual Conference in Colombo came to an end on Monday (July 22). All eyes were on the meeting as it was expected that the Champions Trophy 2025 situation would become clear.

While Pakistan have the hosting rights for the competition next year, India are yet to confirm their final decision on visiting the country. The bilateral relationship between the BCCI and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is currently suspended due to political reasons. India have not visited Pakistan since 2008 while the last bilateral series between the two nations took place way back in the 2012-13 season.

Unsurprisingly, there is a big question mark over India's visit to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy. Neither the PCB nor the BCCI has made any concrete statement on the issue. It was expected that things would become clear after the ICC AGM.

Although the matter wasn’t on the agenda of the meeting, it was expected that the board members would be having a discussion on the same on the sidelines. However, CricketNext has reported that there was no discussion on the Champions Trophy during the AGM.

"It wasn’t on the agenda so it wasn’t brought up or discussed during the Annual General Meeting," said an official who attended the AGM.

No dialogue between BCCI and PCB on Champions Trophy:

A senior BCCI official, who attended the AGM in Colombo, has confirmed that no dialogue between the BCCI and the PCB on the Champions Trophy took place during the meeting. The official made it clear that the matter would not be resolved by any of the two boards but by the ICC.

"It isn’t a bilateral where two boards will hold discussions. No dialogue happened between us and PCB on the Champions Trophy. Since it wasn’t on any of the agendas, it wasn’t discussed during the AGM too. It is still time away and ICC will handle it," said the top BCCI official.

Last year, the PCB had found itself in a similar situation when it had the hosting rights for the Asia Cup. The PCB tried all it could to make the BCCI send the Indian team to Pakistan for the Asia Cup but was eventually left disappointed.

In the end, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) had to come up with a hybrid model. As a result, Sri Lanka was picked as a neutral venue and India played all of their games there. It would not be surprising if the ICC is also left with no option but to come up with a similar arrangement for the Champions Trophy as well. Recent reports even stated that the UAE is likely to be the venue for India's games in the Champions Trophy.