India will not travel to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy; want to play in Sri Lanka or Dubai instead: BCCI sources

The Indian cricket team will not travel to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Instead, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) plans to request the International Cricket Council (ICC) to relocate their matches to either Sri Lanka or Dubai, newswire ANI reported, quoting BCCI sources.

The ICC Champions Trophy will be held in Pakistan between February and March 2025. Due to strained political relations, India has not played cricket in Pakistan since the 2008 Asia Cup.

The last bilateral series between the archrivals was played in India from December 2012 to January 2013. Since then, their encounters have been limited to ICC tournaments and the Asia Cups.

It has been speculated for some time that India may not travel to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.

ICC Champions Trophy 2025: BCCI not interested in travelling to Pakistan

The Pakistan Cricket Board proposed that India play all its matches in Lahore. However, the BCCI is not interested in travelling to Pakistan. In May, BCCI Vice-President Rajeev Shukla said that the Indian team would visit Pakistan for the tournament only if the Central government allowed it.

“In the case of the Champions Trophy, we will do whatever the Government of India tells us to do. We will send our team only when the Government of India permits. So we will go according to the decision of the Indian government,” Shukla told ANI.

India won the Asia Cup 2023, while the final was held in Colombo. Despite Pakistan suggesting a hybrid approach for participating in the ODI World Cup 2023 in India, the idea was never considered.

Champions Trophy in the past

Pakistan won the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 when it was last held. In 2002, India and Sri Lanka were declared joint winners of the ICC Champions Trophy after the Match Day and the Reserve Day had been washed out due to rain. India beat England in 2013 to win the trophy for the second time.

(This is a developing story. Check back for more details.)