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ICC Champions Trophy 2025 will get underway on February 19 in Karachi with India playing all their matches in Dubai after refusing to travel to Pakistan owing to security concerns.
India captain Rohit Sharma during toss against Pakistan (PTI)
A Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official has lashed out over reports of the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) alleged decision of not sending India captain Rohit Sharma to Pakistan for the opening ceremony of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, which gets underway from February 19.
The opening ceremony of the Champions Trophy will be held either on February 16 or 17.
Rohit was also expected to attend the customary captains’ photo shoot and the pre-event press conference in Pakistan.
India are slated to play all their Champions Trophy matches in Dubai including the clash against Pakistan on February 23 as well as the semi-final and final if qualified.
As per a report in the PTI, a source said that recently three Indian nationals, who were a part of the ICC delegation which came to Pakistan, were promptly issued visas once the world body sent their names to the PCB.
The source said PCB has procured all relevant clearances from its government to promptly issue visas to all captains, players and team officials who will come here for pre-tournament events.
“This obviously includes Rohit or any other Indian team player or official or board official,” he added.
Another source confirmed to PTI that the PCB has made it clear to the ICC that the opening ceremony, featuring all teams and their captains, will take place in Pakistan.
“This is in line with the usual protocols and since the opening match is on 19th the opening ceremony can be expected either on the 16th or 17th,” the source added.
He said the schedule of the opening ceremony would depend on the warm-up matches list.
Meanwhile, the BCCI has neither denied sending Rohit to Pakistan nor confirmed his travel. However, the PCB official further conveyed his disappointment over reports that the Indian team would not wear Pakistan’s name on their tournament jersey.
“BCCI is bringing politics into cricket, which is not at all good for the game. They refused to travel to Pakistan. They don’t want to send their captain (to Pakistan) for the opening ceremony, now there are reports that they don’t want the host nation’s (Pakistan) name printed on their jersey. We believe that the world governing body (ICC) will not let this happen and support Pakistan,” a PCB official, on condition of anonymity, told IANS on Monday.
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On Saturday, India announced the 15-member squad for the eight-team marquee tournament with Shubman Gill named as Rohit’s deputy.
In the last edition of the ICC Champions Trophy, India reached the finals before losing to Pakistan.
India will start their campaign against Bangladesh in Dubai on February 20 before taking on arch-rivals Pakistan on February 23. India will face New Zealand in their final group-stage match on March 2.
(With inputs from Agencies)
