The International Cricket Council said Monday it anticipates the teams will have reservations about traveling to Pakistan for the 2025 Champions Trophy. The ICC awarded the hosting rights for the Champions Trophy 2025 to Pakistan last week. It will mark the return of a major cricket event to Pakistan after more than two decades.
The last time Pakistan had an ICC event on its soil was when it co-hosted the 1996 World Cup with India and Sri Lanka.
Since the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in 2009, she has not been able to host many international games in the country.
“The answer is what we can see so far, absolutely (teams will travel),” said ICC Chairman Greg Barclay on Monday.
“The ICC cricket event is returning to Pakistan after many years. With the exception of the events of the past few weeks, everything went without a hitch,” added Barclay, ICC CEO Geoff Allardice added.
In September, the head of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Ramiz Raja, hit the “West Bloc” after England and New Zealand canceled their tours to the Asian country for security reasons. However, England will play 7 T20Is in Pakistan in 2022 while Australia will tour the Asian nation as well.
Barclay insisted that the Board of Directors would not have granted hosting rights to Pakistan if they were not convinced of the success of the event.
“So we wouldn’t have given the event if we didn’t believe that Pakistan would be able to host it for quite a long time.”
“It won’t be until 2025 and I am sure that, like all countries are required to do, they will put together the appropriate safety plans and assurances to ensure that they can be delivered as is. So yeah, we were sure and confident that we “I’ll keep going,” added Barclay.
India travels to Pakistan – challenging topic: Barclay
India’s participation in the tournament remains doubtful as there has been no bilateral cricket between the two neighbors since 2012 due to diplomatic tensions following terrorist attacks in India.
Sports Minister Anurag Thakur said last week that a decision on India’s participation in the Champions Trophy will be made in due course as there are still security issues for international teams touring the neighboring country.
Barclay admitted the issue would be challenging and hoped that cricket could improve relations between the two neighbors.
“We know that it is particularly difficult to work on this topic. I mean, from my point of view, I have no control over whether geopolitical forces are working on what we do.
“But I just hope that cricket can be forced to improve relations between them.
“One of the great things sport can do is bring people in nations together. So if we can do something and make a small contribution, that’s fantastic,” he added. (With PTI inputs)
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