Sports Desk: The Champions Trophy will be held in Pakistan at the beginning of next year. The schedule of the Champions Trophy in Lahore was scheduled to be announced tomorrow (Monday), but the ICC canceled the event at the last moment. Basically, the decision of the Indian government not to send the team has put the PCB in trouble.
Champions Trophy
In a report yesterday (Saturday), the influential cricket website ESPN Cricinfo said that the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) has already informed the ICC that the Indian government is not allowing the team to be sent to Pakistan.
Due to this, India will not participate in the Champions Trophy in neighboring Pakistan. In such a situation, the ICC and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will have to take alternative measures to organize the tournament.
The report also said that discussions are underway to host the tournament on a hybrid model, where some matches could be played in Pakistan and others at an alternate venue. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is at the top as a potential host for this model. Apart from this, Sri Lanka is also being considered as a possible venue.
In view of this incident, an official said, the schedule has not been confirmed yet. We are still in discussions with the host and participating teams of the Champions Trophy. Once confirmed we will inform through our channel.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has already done a lot of work on the schedule, but may eventually be forced to turn to a hybrid model. This has created the possibility of hosting India's matches in the UAE.
In the last Asia Cup as well, Pakistan was forced to host the Asia Cup in a hybrid model. After that the ODI World Cup was held in India. However, the PCB believed that Rohit-Kohli would come to Pakistan to play the Champions Trophy if they went to India to play the World Cup.
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But in the end BCCI is proving PCB's thinking wrong. No way they want to go to Pakistan to participate in Champions Trophy. India has not visited Pakistan since July 2008 due to political tension between the two countries.
