ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Jay Shah to decide India's Pakistan visit, reveals Rajeev Shukla

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) vice-president Rajeev Shukla has delivered good news, saying that the BCCI secretary and the recently elected new ICC chairman, Jay Shah, will decide on India's visit to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.

India National Cricket Team have not traveled to Pakistan for close to two decades due to longstanding political tensions between the countries and the strained relationship, particularly after the 2008 Mumbai attacks, has led to the end of the bilateral ties between India and Pakistan.

The two Asian teams only face off each other in the tournament organized by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and Asian Cricket Council (ACC). India last toured Pakistan for a bilateral series in 2005–06, when they played three Tests and five ODIs.

The Men In Blue, meanwhile, played their last game in Pakistan in the 2008 Asia Cup. On the other hand, Pakistan last traveled to India for a bilateral series in 2012-13, and since then, they have not toured the country for bilateral series, but the Men In Green took part in the 2016 ICC T20 World Cup and 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup held in India.

With Pakistan hosting an ICC event - ICC Champions Trophy 2025 - after a very long time, there were speculations that India might finally visit the country. However, the BCCI has not confirmed the participation of the national team despite the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) sending a draft schedule to the International Cricket Council.

We have a good news that our BCCI Secretary Jay Shah will become the ICC Chairman - Rajeev Shukla

Rajeev Shukla has now spoken about the matter, stating that Jay Shah being the top boss of ICC is a piece of good news as he will make the decision on the matter as an independent ICC chairman.

“As far as Champions Trophy is concerned, Pakistan is hosting that tournament. Last year as well, the Asia Cup was in Pakistan and we had adoptd a hybrid model where India’s matches were played in Sri Lanka. Until now, there have been no discussions in BCCI for that tournament and nor have we come up with a decision. We have a good news that our BCCI Secretary Jay shah will become the ICC Chairman. So, he will be there in ICC as independent Chairman and will take a decision on the matter,” Rajeev Shukla told India Today.

Rajeev Shukla, however, once again made it clear that the Indian government will make the final decision on the matter, and without the clearance from the government the BCCI won't be sending Team India to Pakistan.

“Another factor is that and it applies to all the cricketing boards. It is clearly written in the ICC rules that if the government doesn’t give permission then the team can’t travel to that particular country. So, we’ve left it to the government, keeping in mind it’s about player’s safety and other issues. So whatever the government tells us, we’re waiting for that. It’s all dependent on the government’s decision whether our team will travel to Pakistan or not and we will do out negotiations accordingly,” Rajeev Shukla added.

The Champions Trophy 2025 is likely to be played from February 19 to March 9, across Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi, with India's all the matches being held in Lahore as per draft schedule.