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Ahmad Shahzad made a rather bizarre suggestion of how India and Pakistan can play each other on their home turf.
Rohit Sharma and Babar Azam (AFP)
The out-of-favour, Pakistan opening batter, Ahmad Shahzad made a rather bizarre suggestion of how India and Pakistan can play each other on their home turf. This comes before the ICC announced that a hybrid model would be in place for the Champions Trophy set to be played in 2025.
Shahzad in the Nadir Ali podcast on YouTube, suggested that a stadium be built by the border between the two neighbouring countries so that both teams can enter from their respective nations without any political tensions.
“When I did a podcast, I suggested the idea of building a stadium by the border. One gate would be towards India, the other gate would be towards Pakistan. The players would come from the respective gates and play,” he shared.
“But even then there would be issues for the BCCI and their government. When their players come to the field by our side, they would need visas which they would not get,” he added.
The two nations have only met in ICC competitions due to the political tensions between the two nations. The neighbouring nations have not taken part in a bilateral series since 2012-13. Yesterday, the ICC revealed that the two nations would not visit the other country for any ICC competition as well, with a ‘hybrid model’ being used instead.
All of India’s games that were supposed to be held in Pakistan, including the IND vs PAK match will be held in a neutral territory. The same rule applies to Pakistan when taking part in tournaments that are held in India.
The ICC is yet to announce the neutral venue for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 but reports have suggested that it could be either Sri Lanka or the UAE.
Despite the hybrid model, the Champions Trophy 2025 will be the first major ICC event that Pakistan has hosted since the shared hosting of the ICC World Cup in 1996 with India and Sri Lanka. Pakistan will come into the CT 2025 as the defending champions after dominantly beating India in June 2017. Fakhar Zaman was adjudged the Player of the Match after his sensational knock of 114 runs.
