Pakistan opener Ahmed Shehzad reckons that the PCB has missed a golden opportunity to host India on its soil after the announcement of a hybrid model for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Shehzad even feels that the Indian cricket team won’t be coming to Pakistan at all.
The International Cricket Council recently announced that India will play its Champions Trophy 2025 games in a neutral venue and won’t travel to Pakistan. However, the same will apply for Pakistan when the next ICC tournament will be hosted by India.
The resolution comes just months before the beginning of Champions Trophy 2025. It comes as a sigh of relief for the fans as well as the ICC, who were desperate to resolve the tussle between the BCCI and the PCB over the past month.
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Ahmed Shehzad takes a sarcastic dig at India
While speaking on the Nadir Ali podcast, Ahmed Shehzad was asked about India’s refusal to travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy. Shehzad took a dig by saying that India will have a problem even if a stadium is built on the border.
“Build a stadium on the border. One gate should open in India, the other in Pakistan. Their players can come from there, our players can go from here,” Shehzad said on the podcast.
“But again, I think BCCI or the Indian government will have an issue. They’ll say that when your player comes to the field on our side, we’ll not give him a visa for that,” he added.
The BCCI informed the ICC about India’s reluctance to travel to Pakistan in November. The Indian board claimed that they didn’t get the required permission from the country’s government to send their team to Pakistan.
“PCB has missed the chance” – Ahmed Shehzad on ICC’s new decision
Further speaking on ICC’s decision to organize its events in India and Pakistan on a hybrid model, Ahmed Shehzad reckons that the Pakistan Cricket Board has missed a golden chance to host India.
The opening batter also feels that they should forget about India travelling to Pakistan anytime now as the ICC events were the only way of achieving that.
“Pakistan had a golden chance to host India. All cricket boards had signed the agreement in 2021 that Pakistan will host the Champions Trophy. ICC cannot back off,” Shehzad noted.
“PCB has missed the chance I think. We should forget that the Indian team will ever come to Pakistan now. Just forget it. The only way you could have brought India here was by an ICC event,” he added.
ICC’s new resolution on Champions Trophy 2025
Recently, the ICC passed a resolution according to which India and Pakistan won’t travel to each other’s countries in the ICC events scheduled from 2024-27. It includes both the men’s and women’s ICC events and also includes the knockout games of these tournaments.
It will be applicable in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 and is likely to be applicable for the 2028 Women’s T20 World Cup as well. Both these tournaments will be held in Pakistan but India will play its matches in a neutral venue.
Similarly, Pakistan too will not travel to India and play its matches in a neutral venue according to the hybrid model. It means that Pakistan won’t travel to India for the Women’s World Cup 2025 and Men’s T20 World Cup 2026.