Pakistan board chairman Mohsin Naqvi ‘confident’ about India tour for Champions Trophy 2025

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Mohsin Naqvi is hopeful that the Champions Trophy 2025 will be held in Pakistan and all teams, including India, will participate in the tournament.

The Champions Trophy is scheduled to start on February 19, and the final on March 9, with Lahore, Karachi, and Rawalpindi marked as venues. India has not sent a delegation to Pakistan since July 2008 due to political differences between the two countries.

However, Naqvi is confident that India will come to Pakistan next year and that preparations are on schedule. He went on to say that the stadiums will “definitely” be in the best condition to host the ICC tournament.

“The Indian team should come. I don’t see them canceling or postponing coming here and we are confident that we will host all the teams in the Champions Trophy in Pakistan,” he said in Lahore. “The stadiums will be ready to host the matches at the appointed time and any remaining work will be completed after the tournament. In a way, we will have a brand new stadium.”

Naqvi was asked if he would meet S Jaishankar, India’s Foreign Minister, who is visiting Pakistan for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO) Council of Heads of Government (CHG) meeting on October 15-16, but he played it down. down. “He is coming but I don’t think the details of his meetings have been set.” BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla had recently said that the final call regarding India visiting Pakistan for the Champions Trophy will be taken by the Indian government.

Naqvi also revealed that he has asked the committee that selects the team – including the captain and head coach of the teams – whether it is the right time to introduce new blood to the national team. “They said they were fine with the current lineup so I told them ‘ok, it’s your call’.”