After ICC’s announcement, Pakistan’s lottery opened, after Champions Trophy, now hosting of World Cup
ICC Men’s and Women’s T20 World Cup Trophy
There was a tug of war going on between BCCI and Pakistan for the last few months regarding ICC Champions Trophy 2025, which has now ended with the official announcement of ICC. ICC said in the official announcement that the ICC Champions Trophy will now be played under the hybrid model. The Champions Trophy will be held in Pakistan and at a neutral venue. Most of the matches of the tournament will be played in Pakistan while the Indian team will play its matches at neutral venues. Apart from this, the match played between India and Pakistan will also be played at a neutral venue.
The ICC said that all India-Pakistan matches played in ICC events during the 2024-27 cycle will be played at neutral venues and all matches involving Pakistan in any event hosted by India will be played outside India. This agreement will also apply to the Champions Trophy to be held in Pakistan in 2025, the Women’s ODI World Cup in India in 2025 and the T20 World Cup 2026 to be jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka. India had refused to go to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 to be held in February-March due to security concerns. India has not played any match in Pakistan since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
Pakistan got a big tournament
Meanwhile, the good news for Pakistan fans is that Pakistan Cricket Board has got the hosting of a big tournament. ICC has handed over the hosting of the T20 World Cup to Pakistan. However, this World Cup will not be of men but of women which will be played in 2028. That means Pakistan will host 2 big tournaments within 4 years. Apart from this, Cricket Australia will also host one of the ICC senior women’s tournaments during the period from 2029 to 2031.
