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After a nearly three-decades long wait ends for Pakistan to host a global event as International Cricket Council confirmed, Champions Trophy 2025 to be held in Pakistan.
It must come as an enchanting and unexpected news for Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the millions of ardent fans of the sport in the country, especially after the disappointing setbacks of New Zealand and England pulling out of tours to Pakistan in September, citing security risk and player health respectively.
The last time Pakistan held a major multinational cricket tournament was back in 1996, when they hosted the Cricket World Cup as co-hosts with India and Sri Lanka.
Since the Lahore attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in 2009, Pakistan had been a no-go area for international cricket teams. Following the attack, Pakistan was stripped of its rights to host the Champions Trophy later that year, as well as being dropped as co-hosts for the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup – on security grounds. Subsequently, the event was held in Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka.
PCB has been working on the revival of international cricket in Pakistan for the past few years, resulting in several teams touring the country in recent years.
The Former PCB chairman Ehsan Mani had been working on a plan to secure the hosting rights for at least two major events. Therefore, ICC’s announcement, following a board meeting of the sport’s global governing body, is welcome news for the fans, the players, and the country as a whole.
England Cricket Board (ECB) have reached out to PCB to mend their relations which suffered a blow after ECB’s decision to pull out of the tour back in September and facing backlash from PCB and cricket fraternity of both countries.
ECB have since resolved their differences with the PCB, they have agreed to compensate the losses suffered by the PCB by playing two additional Twenty20 matches when England’s team tours Pakistan late next year. The proposed tour in Autumn 2022 will be the first since 2005 for the England cricket team, while Australia is also scheduled to tour Pakistan early next year for the first time since 1998.
Ramiz Raja, the newly elected PCB chairman, also attended the ICC board meeting and welcomed the decision, in a PCB press release he was quoted saying:
“I am pleased no-end with the ICC’s decision to select Pakistan as a host nation for one of their elite tournaments. By allocating a major global event to Pakistan, the ICC has expressed complete confidence and faith in our management and operational capabilities and skills.”
He continued to say that: “We have continued to demonstrate how a great host we are and through the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, we will again showcase our passion and love for the sport as this event will be a boon to the millions of home fans, who will see world class teams and their favourite international players from close quarters.”
The tournament in Pakistan will see the return of the Champions Trophy after an eight-year break. The last edition was hosted by the ECB in England and Wales in 2017 when Pakistan beat India by 180 runs in the final and were crowned champions.
In 2018 the ICC had decided to scrap the eight-team tournament in favour of the Twenty20 World Cup but backtracked on that idea earlier this year. The next edition of the Champions Trophy after Pakistan 2025 will be hosted by India in 2029.
Pakistan, the current holders of the Champions Trophy, will take further motivation to do well in front of their home crowd to not just perform well in a global event in their backyard, but also to defend their title and keep the trophy at home.
Talking about Pakistan’s title defence of the Champions Trophy and referring to their strong performances in the recently concluded World Twenty20 competition, where Pakistan won all five of their group matches, especially, beating India, their arch-rivals, for the first time in a world cup match. Raja further added:
“We not only endeavour to plan and deliver a world-class event, we will also prepare and field a strong and formidable side that can perform and entertain our home fans. We saw during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup campaign how the nation got united and the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 at home will be another opportunity to further strengthen that bond as we defend the title.”
In the media release, ICC also announced seven other men’s global event to be held in the next cycle from 2024-31, making it a very exciting and thrilling coming eight years for the game’s global fanbase and audience with eight global events in eight years.
It comes as delightful news for both countries, USA and Namibia will host an ICC World Cup for the first time. USA will co-host the Twenty20 World Cup 2024 along with West Indies, while Namibia will share the hosting duties with South Africa and Zimbabwe for the ODI World Cup in 2027. Talking about the planned strategic growth of the game and need to expand it to the newer markets ICC Chair, Greg Barclay said:
“We are delighted to have concluded this competitive bidding process for the first time for ICC events. To have 14 Members hosting 8 events is a reflection of the truly global nature of our sport and I’d like to thank every Member that submitted a bid and offer our congratulations to the successful bidders.
“It is fantastic to be returning to so many previous hosts, but what is really exciting about this process is the countries who will stage ICC events for the first time including the USA which is a strategic growth market for us. This gives us the opportunity to deepen our connection with fans in traditional cricket nations and also reach new fans around the world.”
ICC events taking place between 2022 and 2031 are as follows:
ODI World Cup –
2023 India,
2027 South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia,
2031 India and Bangladesh
Twenty20 World Cup –
2022 Australia,
2024 USA and West Indies,
2026 India and Sri Lanka,
2028 Australia and New Zealand,
2030 England, Ireland, and Scotland
Champions Trophy –
2025 Pakistan,
2029 India
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