The Pakistan Cricket Board has confirmed that they have selected the United Arab Emirates as a neutral host for the 2025 Champions Trophy. “The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has selected the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the neutral host for the 2025 Champions Trophy,” PCB spokesperson Amir Mir said in a statement to IANS.
“The PCB has formally informed the ICC about the decision on a neutral venue. Now the matches for the Champions Cup between India and Pakistan will be held in the UAE. The decision regarding a neutral venue for the Champions Cup would have to be taken by host Pakistan. The final decision on the venue was taken after a meeting between Mohsin Naqvi and Sheikh Al Nahyan, who is currently in Pakistan and is also the Chairman of the UAE Cricket Board,” he added.
The International Cricket Council’s executive board on Thursday confirmed that matches between India and Pakistan in upcoming ICC events until 2027, including the 2025 Champions Trophy next year, will be played at neutral venues.
Neutral venue provisions will apply to the upcoming 2025 ICC Men’s Champions Trophy (hosted by Pakistan) to be held in February and March 2025, as well as the 2025 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup (hosted by India) and the men’s tournament ICC T20. World Cup 2026 (hosted by India and Sri Lanka). Moreover, this will also apply to the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2028, the hosting rights of which have been awarded to Pakistan.
Due to tense political relations, India and Pakistan compete only in international competitions such as the World Cup and the Asian Championship. The last bilateral series between the two countries was in 2012-13 when Pakistan toured India in a five-match white-ball series.
The Champions Cup is scheduled to be played in February and March 2025. Meanwhile, the ICC said the schedule for the main event will be confirmed in the coming days. Pakistan are the defending champions of the tournament, having defeated India by 180 runs in the final at the Oval in 2017.
Both teams last played against each other in the T20 World Cup in New York earlier this year, which India won by six runs to claim their second silverware in the format.
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