India and Pakistan are set to confirm they will not tour each other for any cricket assignment for the next three years as the 2025 Champions Trophy (CT) heads for a hybrid model after a long drawn saga following the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) confirmation that the Men in Blue will not travel to the neighbouring nation.
According to a report by the Press Trust of India, an agreement has been reached during the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) meeting on Friday for the Champions Trophy to be played in a hybrid model which will mean that India plays their matches in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and a similar arrangement has been agreed to for all ICC events till 2027.
In this period, India is set to host the 2025 Women’s Cricket World Cup and the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup. With Sri Lanka set to co-host the T20 World Cup, Pakistan will play their matches in the island nation; the Indian women’s team will travel out of the country to play Pakistan in the 2025 Women’s World Cup if the two teams are drawn together. This arrangement could mean that the India-Pakistan clash in the 2026 T20 World Cup takes place in Sri Lanka while the final of both events is scheduled outside India.
India are set to host the 2025 Men’s Asia Cup too and Times of India (TOI) has reported that alongside the two ICC events, the agreement also extends to the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) showpiece event.
The status of the 2025 Champions Trophy was under th cloud after BCCI confirmed last month that the Indian government have not given the team permission to visit Pakistan due to security reasons. The Men in Blue have not played in Pakistan since the 2008 Asia Cup.
Pakistan visited India for the semi-final of the 2011 World Cup as well as the entire 2016 T20 World Cup and 2023 World Cup. The Men in Green also played a three ODI and two T20I match bilateral series on Indian soil in 2012-13.
