India to play on Pakistan soil in Champions Trophy 2025? PCB sends full tournament schedule to ICC

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has reportedly submitted the initial schedule for the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy to the International Cricket Council (ICC).

The PCB has the hosting rights for the next edition of the tournament. The tournament is scheduled to be played in February and March 2025. It will be the ninth edition of the Champions Trophy and the first since 2017 when England hosted the competition.

A total of eight teams will be participating in the 2025 Champions Trophy. While Pakistan qualified as the hosts, they were joined by the seven other highest-ranked teams from the 2023 Cricket World Cup league stage.

Pakistan submit schedule for ICC Champions Trophy 2025:

While there are doubts over whether PCB will be able to host the competition in Pakistan or not, the board has started its preparation for the tournament. As per reports in Pakistani news outlet Cricket Pakistan, the PCB has proposed the schedule of all the games to ICC including India's games.

On Sunday (April 28), PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi delivered an update on the board's preparation. Interacting with the media, he confirmed that the PCB has submitted the schedule for the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy to the ICC. Naqvi also stated that all the matches are set to take place in Pakistan.

"We want the complete Champions Trophy in Pakistan. We have already submitted the schedule to the ICC. The ICC security team came to Pakistan and they were very happy with the arrangements," said Naqvi.

He also delivered an update on the renovation of stadium, saying: "The stadium upgrading work is going on rapidly. Yes, there have been some delays but we are determined to get it done as soon as possible,” Naqvi said. “We have a three-member committee that is exclusively working on that. There is a director infrastructure, director international cricket and the remaining is director domestic cricket."

Doubt over India's participation:

While the PCB are adamant about hosting the Champions Trophy on Pakistani soil, there are huge doubts over India's participation in the competition if it is held in Pakistan. The bilateral relationship between the two nations is at an all-time low at present due to political reasons and it has affected the cricketing ties as well.

India have not visited Pakistan since 2008. Last year, the Asian Cricket Council had to come up with a hybrid model for the Asia Cup to ensure India's participation in the tournament. Pakistan had the hosting rights for the competition but most of the games were held in Sri Lanka. It won't be surprising if the venue for the Champions Trophy 2025 is changed as well or a hybrid model is proposed.