The new chief of the Pakistan Cricket Board Mohsin Naqvi is optimistic that the Indian men’s cricket team will come to Pakistan next year to participate in the ICC Champions Trophy. The ICC Champions Trophy 2025 edition is going to be held in Pakistan. The tournament which consists of eight teams will commence on 19th February and the last match will take place on 9th March. The matches are supposed to be played in Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi.
Since July 2008, India has not stepped foot in Pakistan, which is attributed to high running political tension between the two nations. However the Naqvi PCB chairman predicts that India will also give up this long wait and will visit the country in which the ICC event will be held next year.
While addressing reporters in Lahore on Sunday, Naqvi who become PCB chief earlier this year said, “Indian team mujhe puri umeed hai… Abhi tak koi aisi cheej nahi hai jiski wajeh se vo postpone karey ya cancel karey. Toh sari teams aayengi (Team India will come to play the Champions Trophy in Pakistan next year. All teams will come).”
No major ICC event has taken place in Pakistan since the 1996 ODI world cup. ICC World Cup 2011 was expected to take place in subcontinental countries including Pakistan, but after the attack on Sri Lanka team by terrorists in 2009, Pakistan was removed from the list of countries hosting the event and it was held in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh instead.
Ever since July 2008, India has not been able to make a trip to Pakistan, though within the period, Pakistan has been able to visit India three times. The first instance occurred in December 2012 when Pakistan participated in a short tour involving a three-match T20I series along with three ODIs. Later, in 2016, Pakistan visited once more to compete in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup held in India. The last time Pakistan toured India was in the year 2023 when the team under the captaincy of Babar Azam participated in the 2023 ODI World Cup that was hosted entirely within India for the first time.
Pakistan played two matches each in Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Kolkata with the high-voltage match against India held at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on October 14.
