We are at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and it’s a November night in 2022. The ground is tearing at the seams with attendance numbers shining brightly on the screen. The number is nearly 1 lac spectators. Mind you, this game is in a country miles away from both the nations competing at the G today. Also, there are millions watching this game online with bated breath.
But its not stuff for news. India versus Pakistan games have always sent seismic waves across the world just like this. Many think the craze this rivalry enjoys is because of the political tensions between the said nations. While other think people hype up this rivalry because both Pakistan and India hardly get to play against each other. Both reasons seem to hold some truth to them.
The last time both neighboring countries engaged in a bilateral series, James Anderson only had 416 Test wickets, the fastest ODI century record still rested with Shahid Afridi and the Gabbatoir was still intact and unscathed. It was way back in 2013 when India and Pakistan played a match outside of a multi-nation tournament.
Although many nations including England and Australia have offered Pakistan and India to play a series at any of their venues, none of these proposals have ever floated any boats for both rivals. Currently, while both nations, as well as the International Cricket Board (ICC), are engaged in a debate about whether India should cross the border for Champions Trophy 2025, some sources indicate that Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairperson, Mohsin Naqvi, along with other board officials plans to invite India for a T20I series at a bilateral venue in 2025.
This plan is likely to be proposed to the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) during the ICC annual conference in Colombo, which will commence on 22nd July. The PCB chair will suggest a time window after the conclusion of the Champions Trophy next year.
Champions Trophy 2025 will be the first ICC event since the ODI World Cup 1996 that Pakistan will get to host. However, India’s refusal to come to Pakistan for the tournament and Pakistan’s insistence on not adopting a hybrid model puts the latter’s hosting rights under the clouds of uncertainty. Besides India, none of the other participating nations have expressed any apprehensions apropos to visiting Pakistan for the tourney as all of the teams have already visited Pakistan post-2009 era.
No official decision has been released yet regarding the matter, however, if India pulls out of the tournament in case of a no-show, Sri Lanka will replace them to participate in the Champions Trophy which is slated to be played from February to March next year. There are chances that the global cricketing body might convince PCB to relocate the event to a neutral place to accommodate India. It merits mention here that India refused to visit Pakistan for the Asia Cup last year, forcing the PCB to organize more than half of the tournament in Sri Lanka.
PCB has already submitted a tentative schedule for the mega-event with Lahore, Karachi, and Rawalpindi named as the hosts. The budget for the tournament was discussed with the ICC during the Colombo conference.
