Ahead of ICC security team visit, BCCI says Indian team won’t play in Pakistan for the Champions Trophy

A view of the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai. The BCCI has officially communicated that it will not send the Indian team to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy 2025.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Days ahead of a visit by the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) security team to Pakistan, to study the situation for the Champion’s Trophy next year, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has officially communicated that it will not send the Indian team to Pakistan for the tournament.

The decision comes despite several attempts by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), including during the recent visit of External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to Islamabad, to convince the government to change its mind, offering any special security arrangements required.

The PCB was also prepared to assure the BCCI of its choice of venue for all matches played by the Indian team, which would have security concerns to play in Pakistan, given the tensions between the two countries and the absence of normal ties.

In 2019, angered by India’s decision to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan had snapped trade and travel ties, and High Commissioners in both countries were expelled.

“We have officially informed the ICC about our inability to participate in games in Pakistan. We have made our stance clear that we will prefer a hybrid model, with the tournament split in two countries,” a BCCI insider told The Hindu. “We were asked to clear our stand and we have done it, in consultation with the (Central) government.”

A hybrid model, which had been followed for other series in the past, would mean India’s group engagements and the tournament final due to be held in February-March 2025 would be organised in the UAE, a proposal that could see stiff opposition from Pakistan, sources said.

On Friday, the Pakistan Cricket Board chief and Pakistan’s Home Minister Syed Mohsin Naqvi dismissed Indian media reports that the BCCI had written about its decision to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Speaking to journalists at Lahore’s Gaddafi stadium, Mr. Naqvi said no country had discussed the “hybrid model” with them nor was Pakistan “willing to talk about it”. “We have been showing good gestures for the last few years and no one should expect us to do it all the time,” Mr. Naqvi said, adding that the Shahbaz Sharif government would take the final decision on how to proceed if such a proposal was given.

The Ministry of External Affairs had denied that Mr. Jaishankar had any “conversation” about resuming cricketing ties in Pakistan when he met Mr. Naqvi at a dinner during his visit to Islamabad for the SCO Heads of Government Meeting on October 15-16. However, at least two officials confirmed that the PCB had presented Pakistan’s case for India to travel with the Indian delegation there. According to the sources, Pakistan was prepared to let the Indian team spend only as much time in Pakistan as was required for the matches or practice, and would facilitate the team’s return to India by air or by road over the border to Amritsar.

“This would mean that any time, they could return to India within 20 minutes,” an official said, referring to the drive from Lahore to the Wagah-Attari border. 

The officials said Pakistan expected “reciprocity” from India, as it sent its team to play in the ICC World Cup in 2023, and will be expected to send its team for the Asia Cup being hosted by India in 2025.

The timing of the decision was made more awkward as BCCI secretary Jay Shah, who is the son of Home Minister Amit Shah, is also the president of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), and is set to take over as ICC chairman on December 1, and would not want any allegations of being partial to his own team being levelled in that position. As a result, sources told The Hindu that all the formal announcements with regard to the tournament fixtures would be announced before Mr. Jay takes over the ICC reins.

With time running out for finalising the fixtures, the ICC had set the BCCI a deadline for Friday (November 8) to confirm its venue preference, and plans to send its security officials to Pakistan for a recce next week. BCCI president Roger Binny and Mr. Jay met with top BCCI executives at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai on Thursday, where they drafted the formal communication that was shared with the ICC.

“It’s an ICC event, so there is no question of dealing directly with the tournament host,” the source said. “The ICC has been preparing for a hybrid model for a while. The tournament budget for the hybrid model was also approved in the last ICC Board meeting (in October).”

Last year, a similar situation had arisen when the PCB was forced to host the Asia Cup in Pakistan and Sri Lanka due to India’s refusal to travel to Pakistan. Pakistan held no international tournament from 2009 to 2019 after the terror attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team, but has held several bilateral series in the last few years, and views the return of the first such multilateral event as a prestige issue.

The ICC Champions Trophy is an eight-team ODI event, a quadrennial event sandwiched between the ODI World Cups. India, New Zealand, Pakistan and Bangladesh are clubbed in a pool, with the top two proceeding to the semi-finals.