KARACHI: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi has said he is “confident” India will tour Pakistan for the Champions Trophy 2025 tournament scheduled to be held in February next year, sports website ESPNcricinfo reported.
Pakistan, who won the last edition of the ICC Champions Trophy in 2017 by beating arch-rivals India in the final, will defend their title on home soil. The tournament is scheduled to be played from Feb. 19 to Mar. 9 2025 in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi venues of the city.
India has not sent its national cricket team to Pakistan since 2008 owing to political tensions between the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors. Pakistan, however, visited India last year in November 2023 to participate in the 50-over World Cup after India refused to tour Pakistan for Asia Cup 2023.
India’s refusal prompted Pakistan to agree to a “hybrid” formula for Asia Cup 2023, with some matches being played in Pakistan while others, including the final, were played in Sri Lanka. India has said its government will have the final say in whether the cricket team will tour Pakistan for the Champions Trophy.
“The Indian team should come. I don’t see them cancel or postpone coming here and we are confident we will host all the teams in the Champions Trophy in Pakistan,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Naqvi as saying.
To prepare for the megaevent, Pakistan’s cricket authorities started renovating its Karachi and Lahore stadiums in August.
“The stadiums will also be ready to host the matches on schedule and any remaining work would be completed after the tournament,” Naqvi said. “In a way, you can say that we are going to have a brand new stadium.”
Naqvi, who is also Pakistan’s federal interior minister, was asked if he and Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar would meet when the latter arrives in Islamabad next week to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization moot.
“He is coming but I don’t think the details of his meetings have been set,” the PCB chief said.
