ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Has ICC made special plan for India’s matches outside Pakistan? Report states…

With ICC Champions Trophy is set to be held in Pakistan next year, there have been speculations if India will be travelling to the country for the mega event. The ICC Champions Trophy will be held in Pakistan between February and March 2025 and due to strained political relations, India has not played cricket in Pakistan since the 2008 Asia Cup.

Now, reliable sources from Cricbuzz claimed that the ICC recently approved a budget of around $65 million i.e. over ₹544 crore during its Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Colombo. The possible expenses of hosting some matches outside of Pakistan are taken into consideration in this budget.

According to the Cricbuzz report, the Chief Executives Committee (CEC) in its approval note mentioned, “PCB has signed Host Agreement and has worked with management to draft an event budget which is submitted F&CA for approval. Management has also approved an estimate of the increase in the cost of staging the event if it is necessary to play some matches outside Pakistan.”

"A planning meeting and inspection of proposed match venues took place in Pakistan in March 2024. A significant amount of renovation work is underway in all three venues to upgrade facilities", the note stated as reported by Cricbuzz.

Probable Schedule for ICC Champions Trophy 2025

According to the Cricbuzz report, currently the draft schedule by the ICC suggests that all of Team India's matches are likely to be held in Lahore, including the highly anticipated India-Pakistan game scheduled for March 1. Speaking of Group A matches, teams namely India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and New Zealand are included.

The report also mentioned that the other matches of Team India will be held on February 20 against Bangladesh while against New Zealand on February 23 while tournament's opening match will feature hosts Pakistan vs New Zealand in Karachi on February 19.

The report also added that the semifinals are scheduled for March 5 in Karachi and March 6 in Rawalpindi while the final is likely to be played in Lahore on March 9. The report further added that the venues could be subject to change depending on the decisions made by the Indian team and the Government of India.

Earlier in July, BCCI sources had said that the Indian cricket team will not travel to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Instead, it added that the BCCI planned to request the ICC to relocate their matches to either Sri Lanka or Dubai, as reported by ANI.