ICC Champions Trophy 2025: ICC officially approves hybrid model as India-Pakistan feud finally ends

In a major development, on Friday, December 13, the International Cricket Council (ICC) approved the hybrid model for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, according to a report.

Now, the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, which was originally slated to be hosted only by Pakistan, will be played across two countries, with India not travelling to Pakistan.

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ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Pakistan not to travel to India for ICC T20 World Cup 2026

According to journalist Vikrant Gupta from SportsTak, India will be playing their ICC Champions Trophy 2025 matches in Dubai.

PCB will not receive any extra compensation for agreeing to the hybrid model but they will get to host an ICC Women’s tournament after 2027.

Also, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), in principle, have agreed that in the ICC T20 World Cup 2026, the Men In Green won't visit India for India vs Pakistan league stage match and it will be played in Colombo. Notably, the T20 World Cup 2026 is set to be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka.

BIG CHAMPIONS TROPHY BREAKING: ICC Has approved Champions Trophy Hybird - Pak and Dubai after agreement with PCB and BCCI. Both BCCI and PCB in principle have agreed for T20 World Cup 2026 that Pak won’t travel for the Ind-Pak league game to India and will play that in Colombo.…

— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) December 13, 2024

Why can't India travel to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025?

India National Cricket Team can't travel to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 because the government denied permission to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to send the side to the neighboring country.

The Indian government took the bold decision because they identified a security threat for the players. Also, the political relations between India and Pakistan have not been good for a very long time and the two teams have not locked horns in a bilateral series for over a decade.

Pakistan and India only play against each other in the International Cricket Council (ICC) events and the Asian Cricket Council's Asia Cup.

The last time India visited Pakistan for a bilateral series was in 2005-2006 and after that, the Men In Blue also visited Pakistan for the Asia Cup in 2008. Meanwhile, Pakistan last toured India in 2012-13 for a white-ball series. However, Pakistan have been visiting India in the ICC competitions.

ICC Champions Trophy 2025 to be played in T20 format?

The upcoming 50-over Champions Trophy is set to take place from February 19 to March 9, with eight teams participating in it.

There were some reports that the Champions Trophy might be switched from 50-over to 20-over tournament due to the delay in the announcement of the schedule, which has been caused by the tussle between BCCI and PCB.

However, a source has revealed that the format of the competition won't be changed as it will then not see Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in action as they have retired from T20Is.

"Changing the format to T20I would be a significant setback," the source said, as quoted by India Today. "Players like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who have retired from T20Is at the international level, would be unable to participate, which would greatly impact the tournament's appeal."