An undated image of ICC Champions Trophy. — AFP/File No deal reached between PCB, BCCI on “hybrid” format.ICC nonetheless unable to announce schedule for the occasion.Beneath hybrid mannequin, Pakistan-Indian match to be performed in Dubai.
The saga of subsequent 12 months’s cricket Champions Trophy drags on, with sources saying Thursday that no settlement has been reached on a proposed “hybrid” format permitting India to play their matches outdoors host nation Pakistan.
The nuclear-armed neighbours have fought three wars since being carved out of the subcontinent’s partition in 1947 and that rivalry is usually mirrored on the cricket area.
The eight-team match hit a snag final month when the Board of Management for Cricket in India (BCCI) advised the Worldwide Cricket Council (ICC) that their facet wouldn’t compete in Pakistan over safety fears and political tensions.
Sources talking on situation of anonymity advised AFP the PCB has agreed to the hybrid mannequin — however solely given that each ICC match going down in India till 2027 follows the identical format, with Pakistan not going to India.
Beneath the hybrid mannequin, Pakistan will host the group matches however its high-profile conflict with India will probably be performed in Dubai.
The ultimate could be held in Dubai or Lahore relying on whether or not the Indian facet make it by.
However the BCCI is objecting to the tit-for-tat situation by itself internet hosting and to the proposal to play the ultimate in Lahore if India don’t qualify, the sources stated.
PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi is in Dubai, the place the ICC has its headquarters, to finalise the preparations, sources stated.
The stand-off means the ICC continues to be unable to announce the schedule for the February 19 to March 19 occasion.
The arch-rivals solely meet in ICC multi-national occasions, with the final bilateral sequence held when Pakistan toured India in 2012-13.
India final toured Pakistan to function within the 2008 Asia Cup and haven’t performed a bilateral sequence throughout the border for 18 years.
Pakistan had been additionally compelled to host final 12 months’s Asia Cup on a hybrid mannequin, with India’s matches and the ultimate hosted in Sri Lanka.
India are set to co-host the following Twenty20 World Cup with Sri Lanka in 2026 along with the Champions Trophy in 2029 and co-host the 2031 World Cup with Bangladesh.
In the previous few years, Pakistan has hosted the world’s prime groups, rising from cricketing isolation that started after a militant assault on the Sri Lankan staff bus in 2009 in Lahore.
Pakistan has not hosted an ICC occasion for the reason that 1996 World Cup with India and Sri Lanka.
