The availability of the Indian National Cricket Team for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 is one of the biggest topics currently in the cricketing world. The tournament will be held in Pakistan in February-March next year and this in itself is the most important thing for the Indian team.
Since the tournament is being held in Pakistan, for security reasonsThe BCCI has not agreed to play Pakistan on home soil. Due to political tensions between the two nations, they also do not play each other in bilateral series, the last of which was played in 2012-13. They only play in the Asia Cup and ICC tournaments.
Since the 2025 Champions Trophy will be the ICC-hosted event, it remains a big question whether India will travel to Pakistan or not. There have been several reports claiming that the BCCI is not willing to send the team and hence the tournament will be played in a hybrid model with India’s matches scheduled to take place in Dubai or Sri Lanka. It is learnt that the BCCI had already submitted the same statement to the ICC.
Amid all the reports that India will not travel to Pakistan, a new report in Geo News Urdu says that the Pakistan Cricket Board has taken a bold and huge step if the BCCI does not travel to India. The PCB has reportedly threatened to boycott the 2026 edition of the T20 World Cup, which will be jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka.
Reports claim that the Pakistan Cricket Board is adamant on its statement that it will not host the 2025 Champions Trophy outside Pakistan. The board is likely to make a strong statement during the ICC meeting in Sri Lanka next week. President Mohsin Naqvi will be in the island nation to attend the meeting scheduled to take place in Colombo from July 19 to 22.
A source close to PCB claimed that their position is strong as all the teams that will play in the 2025 Champions Trophy “have played in Pakistan, and India’s position of not coming to Pakistan is weak.” Therefore, if the Men in Blue do not come to Pakistan, the Babar Azam-led team will also not travel for the 2026 T20 World Cup.
Who will replace India if they withdraw from the 2025 Champions Trophy?
There were even some reports suggesting that India might opt out of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 if the tournament is not played in the hybrid model. In that case, if India opts out, the Sri Lanka National Cricket Team will replace them in the event as the eighth team.
The hybrid model was present even in the 2023 Asia Cup. The tournament was originally scheduled to be held in Pakistan but the Asian Cricket Council agreed to BCCI’s demands to play in the hybrid model. Hence, India played its matches in Sri Lanka along with the final while few matches were played in Pakistan.
India have not travelled to Pakistan since 2008. On the other hand, the Men in Green visited India for the bilateral series in 2012-13 and then for the 2016 T20 World Cup and most recently, the 2023 ICC ODI World Cup. Recently, BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla also stated that they have not decided anything regarding India’s trip to Pakistan as of now and the call will be made soon.