Lahore, Rawalpindi among three venues PCB proposes for 2025 Champions Trophy at home

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has proposed three venues – Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi, in the initial draft shared with the ICC for hosting the 2025 Champions Trophy. The tournament, scheduled for the mid-February-March window next year, will see the return of an ICC tournament to Pakistan after a gap of nearly 30 years.

The Men in Green are defending champions, having last won against arch-rivals India in 2017. Although the ICC had then decided to scrap this tournament, they brought it back in 2022, including it in the new rights cycle (2023-27), with Pakistan getting the hosting rights.

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The 2025 Champions Trophy will be an eight-team tournament played across two weeks, the exact dates of whichare not revealedyet. The hosts - the PCB, had finalised the venues and the schedule following the ICCteam’svisit.

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"We'vesent the schedule for the matches in Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy,"PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi said during a presser in Lahore.

"TheICC'ssecurity team came, and we hada very goodmeeting. They looked at arrangements here, andwe'llalso share stadium upgrade plans with them.We're continuouslyin touch with the ICC. We are trying to ensure we hostaverygoodtournament in Pakistan,”Naqvi continued.

Although India has remained firm on not travelling to Pakistan for the marquee event, the latest draft submitted to the ICC hasIndia’sgames scheduled in Pakistan. However, as per the process, after the draft is submitted, it goes through various changes, after which it is shared with the broadcaster and the remaining participating boards before the final scheduleis announced.

India’sstance a worry for Pakistan

Owingto frosty relationships betweenbothgovernments across borders, India has not toured Pakistan since last visiting them during the 2008 Asia Cup.However, both teams only play each other during Asia Cupand ICC-related tournaments, with the Indian government barring bilateral ties between both countries.

Last year, when Pakistan was supposed to host the Asia Cup,India’scallto not visit the countryforced them to go ahead with the hybrid model, with Sri Lanka joining in as the co-host.

However, given the tightscheduling,involving multiple franchise-based T20 leagues worldwide, the ICCwill have tofind the right window to host the 2025 Champions Trophy in Pakistan.