England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chiefs are confident a solution can be found if India does not travel to Pakistan for the 2025 Champions Trophy, stressing that India’s participation is crucial for protecting the tournament’s broadcast rights.
Pakistan, who won the last edition of the Champions Trophy in England in 2017, will host the tournament from February 19 to March 9, 2025.
Due to strained political relations, India has not visited Pakistan since 2008, with the two rivals only playing each other at multi-team events. Pakistan hosted the Asia Cup last year, but eventual winners India played all their matches in Sri Lanka under what the organizers called a “hybrid model.” At the time, India cited the lack of government permission as the reason for not touring Pakistan.
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) vice president Rajeev Shukla mentioned last month that the final decision on whether India will travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy would be made by the country’s government.
“I know Pakistan is expecting India to travel,” ECB chief Richard Gould told reporters on Wednesday. Gould and ECB chair Richard Thompson are currently in Pakistan for England’s three-test series and have met with Pakistan Cricket Board officials during the ongoing second test in Multan.
“There are lots of different alternatives and contingencies available if that doesn’t happen. I wouldn’t have thought it would be played without India because if you play the Champions Trophy without India, the broadcast rights aren’t there, and we need to protect them. Hopefully, we can have the fullest possible competition in Pakistan.”
Thompson expressed confidence that all involved parties could come to an understanding, pointing to the sides’ meeting at the Twenty20 World Cup in the United States this year. “There’s geopolitics, and then there’s cricketing geopolitics. I think they’ll find a way. They have to find a way,” Thompson added.
“There are always security concerns in this part of the world when those two countries play each other. That will probably drive the key decisions. But I know relationships between the two countries are as amicable as they can be at the moment. We saw it play out at the (men’s T20) World Cup in New York.”
