The International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have decided against hosting a pre-tournament captain’s meetup or photoshoot event ahead of the Champions Trophy. This means captains will not travel before their teams to Pakistan for the event, as is traditionally done for the captain’s gathering. As told by a PCB official, the decision was taken to tackle logistic concerns as many teams will be busy playing their international games leading up to the tournament. Several teams will land in Pakistan or their respective venues close to or on the date of the opening game on February 19.
Interestingly, the captain’s event was never actually on the agenda as told by the PCB official, who mentioned that neither the ICC nor the PCB had officially announced it. This is not the first time a major event will start without such an event. In fact, the T20 World Cup last year also started without any pre-tournament captains’ gathering since the teams were preoccupied with playing warm-up games across the host countries, the United States of America (USA) and the Caribbean.
The last edition of the Champions Trophy, held in the United Kingdom in 2017, similarly lacked an opening ceremony, though a captain’s event, which included a photoshoot session, did take place. For the Champions Trophy, the PCB will have an official launch event, supported by the ICC, three days before the opening game of the eight-team tournament. The event is understood to be attended by the ICC officials in the country at that time.
This decision clarifies that Rohit Sharma, the skipper of India, will not travel to the country, which he would have to do had the event been held. The Indian team will be playing all their games in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after their government denied them permission to visit Pakistan for the tournament.
This is the first ICC event hosted by Pakistan since their co-hosting duties of the ICC World Cup in 1996. The tense political relations between India and Pakistan kept the final venue of the tournament in limbo until the matter was resolved a couple of months ago.
Earlier, there were speculations that the Indian board would remove Pakistan’s name as the host on the team’s jerseys. However, these rumors were busted by the new BCCI secretary Devajit Saika, who said the team would follow all the guidelines provided by the ICC.
Currently, the PCB is in the race to complete the renovation of the stadiums before the deadline. There were some reports that the Imran Khan Enclosure, one of the VIP stands at the Gadaffi Stadium Lahore, will be renamed, following the former Pakistan skipper’s conviction on corruption charges. However, the PCB debunked the rumors recently.
The sales process for the Champions Trophy games fixtures started last week, almost a month down to the tournament. The first game of the tournament will be played between Pakistan and New Zealand at National Stadium, Karachi on February 19. The tournament final is scheduled to be played on March 9.
