ICC notifies PCB of India's refusal to tour Pakistan for Champions Trophy 2025

New Delhi: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced on Sunday that India has officially informed the International Cricket Council that they will not be participating in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy, scheduled to be held in Pakistan in February-March next year.

“The PCB has received an e-mail from the ICC, stating that the BCCI has informed them that their team will not travel to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025,” PCB said in a statement.

“The PCB has forwarded that e-mail to the Government of Pakistan for their advice and guidance,” said a PCB spokesperson.PCB made no further comments on the ICC e-mail but its chairman, Mohsin Naqvi had said on Friday that Pakistan would unveil its policy when they get something in writing from the ICC.

The BCCI had previously informed the global cricket body of India’s inability to travel to the neighboring country, prompting the PCB to adopt a ‘Hybrid Model’ to host the Champions Trophy.

Naqvi also stated that the ‘Hybrid Model’ was unacceptable to Pakistan.

India has not sent its cricket team to Pakistan since 2008, when they visited for the Asia Cup under the captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Since then, Pakistan has toured India for a bilateral white-ball series in 2012-13, the T20 World Cup in 2016, and the 50-over World Cup last year.

As previously reported, India will play all its matches in Dubai, with the highly anticipated India vs Pakistan clash also set to take place in the UAE.

“This is an ICC event and BCCI has informed the global body that it won’t travel to Pakistan. It will depend on ICC to inform the host nation about the development and then close in on the scheduling of the tournament. The convention is to announce the schedule 100 days prior to the commencement of the event,” a BCCI source had toldPTI on conditions of anonymity a few days back.

Dubai is the ideal location for India’s matches, as it offers the highest seating capacity among the three stadiums and has well-established infrastructure, having recently hosted the Women’s T20 World Cup last month.