Indian government decides whether India will participate in the 2025 Champions Trophy in Pakistan
Just one day after the ICC awarded the rights to the 2025 Champions Trophy, which will be held in Pakistan, the Indian government raised concerns about participating in the global tournament. Anurag Thakur, India's sports minister and former BCCI president, said on Wednesday that the Indian government will be monitoring the security situation in Pakistan at this point before making a decision on whether the Indian team will travel to the eight-team global tournament.
"The Indian government - the Ministry of the Interior - also made its decision earlier," Thakur told reporters in Delhi on Wednesday. "When such global tournaments take place, several factors are taken into account.
"You would have seen in the past that many countries have withdrawn to go there (Pakistan) and play because the situation is not normal there. Security is the biggest challenge there as teams have been attacked in the past What a When the time comes, the Government of India will then make a decision based on the circumstances. "
The Champions Trophy is the first ICC tournament to be held in Pakistan since the 1996 Men's ODI World Championship, which was co-hosted by two other countries: India and Sri Lanka. No Indian team has played cricket in Pakistan since the 2008 Asian Cup.
Also Read: The World Cup finalists will meet again in March in the T20I series with three games
The two neighbors have not played bilateral cricket in Pakistan since Rahul Dravid's team traveled to Pakistan in 2005-06 for a full tour that included three Tests and five ODIs. Pakistan toured India in 2007-08 for a mutual tour, but the tense political equation between their governments has since cut ties to a bilateral white ball series in India in 2012-13 and games between the two at ICC tournaments. Pakistan traveled to India to play in the 2011 ODI World Cup semi-finals and later to compete in the 2016 T20 World Cup.