ICC Champions Trophy 2025: BCCI rejects PCB's wild proposal; tournament at stake

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has rejected the new proposal of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) which allowed the Indian team to go back to their country after playing every match.

The PCB promised to provided assistance to Team India to allow the go across the border after every game. Since India's matches are due to be held in Lahore and the city is close to India's border, the PCB saw it as a convenient option to allow India's presence for the tournament.

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BCCI rejects PCB's fresh proposal for India's arrival in Pakistan

However, it has been learnt that the BCCI has not received any such request from the PCB yet. The news was confirmed by a senior BCCI official, as reported by Dainik Jagran. The official spoke about the idea further.

बीसीसीआइ के एक बड़े पदाधिकारी ने कहा कि पहली बार पाकिस्तान से कोई प्रस्ताव आया नहीं। चैंपियंस ट्राफी में भारतीय टीम को मैच से पहले पाकिस्तान भेजना और मैच खत्म करके भारत लाने वाला प्रस्ताव आता भी है तो वो नामंजूर होगा। pic.twitter.com/ZTJ1xwmpWp

— Abhishek Tripathi / अभिषेक त्रिपाठी (@abhishereporter) October 19, 2024

He even claimed that even if such a proposal comes from across the border, it will be rejected. The proposal was brought in by the BCCI to allow India's travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy to be held next year during February-March.

The news will be a big blow to PCB's chances to host an entire Champions Trophy in Pakistan. While all the eight participating nations have agreed to travel to Pakistan for the tournament, BCCI has not yet confirmed India's travel.

BCCI's stance on India's participation

The BCCI has cleared its stance and stated that India's travel depends on the approval of the Indian government. If the Indian government does not allow the team to go to Pakistan, they won't be able to travel.

The PCB has already stated that it wants to host the entire tournament in Pakistan. However, if India does not travel to Pakistan, the tournament could be held in a hybrid model like the last year's Asia Cup in 2023.

Going ahead with India not in the tournament is not an option since most of the revenue comes from the country and it also includes the broadcaster's stakes. Recently, the ECB chiefs cleared the air that the tournament is not possible to go ahead without India.

The ICC and the PCB are looking for an option to include India and it remains to be seen how they go ahead. According to the proposed schedule, the tournament will be held from February 19-March 9 next year.

When did India last travel to Pakistan?

The strained relations of India and Pakistan have often affected their relations in sports as well. Indian cricket team has not travelled to Pakistan since 2008 Asia Cup. Both these teams have not played any bilateral series since 2013, when Pakistan travelled to India for a T20I and an ODI series.

Despite India not willing to travel, Pakistan has travelled to India constantly for ICC tournaments. Recently, they travelled for the ODI World Cup 2023 where Pakistan finished fifth and failed to qualify for the semi-finals.