India Unlikely To Travel To Pakistan For The Champions Trophy In A Hybrid Model: Reports

India stands little hope of travelling to Pakistan to play the one-day internationals; hence, the Champions Trophy will probably be played in the hybrid format in February or March. The occasion called the Champions Trophy is again returning to the calendar of cricket events; this is the first time since 2017 and Pakistan is lucky to be its host.

Still, a source privy to the development informed India Today that a couple of the games will most likely be hosted in Sri Lanka or the United Arab Emirates. According to the previous month, the Pakistan Cricket Board has presented the schedule plan to the International Cricket Council only.

Matches of India were planned in Lahore only in the following administrative draft of the games: The much-awaited showdown between arch-rivals was slated for March 1. But as far as travel is concerned, no official words are coming from the BCCI in this regard at the moment.

“It is highly unlikely that the team will travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy but a final will be taken by the government. So, in that case, a hybrid model is being worked out. India may play their matches in UAE or Sri Lanka just like the Asia Cup. Although the ICC will also have their stand on it, as of now this is what we are thinking of. Let’s see how things go in the future. As of now, it looks like it will be played in a hybrid model,” the source said.

India has not engaged in bilateral cricket with Pakistan since the 2012-13 season:

Reporting to the governing body’s board of governors just a few days before, PCB Chair Mohsin Naqvi assured the board that Pakistan would attempt to host the Champions Trophy fully. Naqvi declared that, the topic would be taken up in an ICC board meeting in Colombo the following July.

The last bilateral cricket series between India and Pakistan took place during the 2012-13 season and neither side has visited the other’s country since then. India has not visited Pakistan since October 2008 for a full year. Only a year ago, Anurag Thakur, the previous Union minister of sports, said that India would not maintain cricket ties with Pakistan until the nation stopped cross-terrorism activities.

Pakistan was obliged to host the Asia Cup in a hybrid format last year as India declined to visit the neighbouring nation. Before the ODI World Cup, the competition was contested, with India’s matches held in Sri Lanka. Rohit Sharma’s team won.

But Pakistan went to participate in the ODI World Cup in India. The Asia Cup was eventually conducted in a hybrid format, despite the Pakistan Cricket Board’s insistence that all of the matches be played at their home grounds.