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Where and when the Champions Trophy 2025 be played? That is the biggest question in world cricket right now. Pakistan are designated hosts of Champions Trophy 2025, while India hold maximum power in world cricket owing to its capability to generate revenue. Now, BCCI has informed world cricket body ICC that it won't be travelling to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy. India and Pakistan don't play bilateral series due to political tensions. The arch-rivals play each other only in ICC and Asian Cricket Council events.
India last toured Pakistan in 2006. Now, with India refusing to tour Pakistan, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has taken a hard stance. It has said that a 'hybrid model' of hosting is out of question. It has also written to the ICC to explain in a written response about the reasons behind BCCI refusing to travel to Pakistan.
Now, according to a video report in Sports Tak, in the response by BCCI there will be a heavy mention about the fear of safety for the Indian cricket team players.
The report said that, along with the reply that the BCCI is sending to the ICC, there is a dossier which mentions that the BCCI is concerned with the terrorist acts in Pakistan. It mentions about cross-border terrorism and also the fact that Indian players can be potentially high target in Pakistan. Though the Indian cricket team might get a lot of love from the common people, there always remains a chance that terrorists might target the Indian cricket team. Like, what happened in 2009 with the Sri Lanka team in Pakistan. The dossier will also mention the terrorism incidents that happened in Pakistan in the last 12 months.
While neither the PCB nor the BCCI are willing to hedge from their current stance, the responsibility of resolving the matter falls on the shoulders of ICC, who only have three options with them. They are:
1. Convince the PCB to agree on BCCI's hybrid model proposal, which would see five of the 15 games of the tournament being played in UAE.
2. Move out the Champions Trophy from Pakistan entirely, but the decision could see the PCB deciding to withdraw its team's participation from the tournament altogether.
3. Postpone the Champions Trophy indefinitely. This decision can have huge ramifications on the revenues of both the ICC and the PCB, who are all slated to earn big bucks from the tournament.