Pakistan is to host the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in Feb-March next year.
Former cricketer Shahid Afridi has stated that Pakistan cricket should be self-sufficient and strong and there is no need for Men in Green to go to India if Men in Blue won’t come to Pakistan.
The Afridi remark comes amid India's rejection to play the ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan, which will take place in January-March of next year.
Pakistan is to host its first ICC event since the 1996 World Cup in February-March 2025 with Lahore, Karachi, and Rawalpindi as the three venues. Eight teams including the hosts are to participate in the event.
But the Indian team’s refusal to come to Pakistan and request ICC of the hybrid model so that their games can be played in Dubai has irked the PCB and Pakistan cricketing fraternity.
Afridi feels the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) should take a tougher stance in its cricketing relationship with India, emphasizing the importance of the country's autonomy in making independent decisions, particularly on ICC tournaments.
"Pakistan cricket should be strong and self-sufficient and take strong principled decisions. If India can't come and play in Pakistan then there is no reason for us to go and play any event in India," Afridi said at the Karachi Arts Council's Urdu conference.
Pakistan had reportedly offered India the ‘fusion formula’ in which PCB will agree to a hybrid model for Champions Trophy 2025, only if BCCI agrees to have Pakistan’s matches at neutral venues as well in the ICC events it hosts till 2027.
But as per reports, BCCI has rejected PCB’s formula, citing that, unlike Pakistan, there are no security issues in India and hence there is no need for such a hybrid model when India hosts any ICC event in the future.
Afridi believes that the PCB's stance on the Champions Trophy is legitimate, considering India's refusal to play in Pakistan. This has caused delays in publicizing the program and venues.
“Even the ICC now has to decide whether its responsibility is to ensure every member nation gets to play cricket or it just wants to make money," he added.
It remains to be seen what solution ICC finds to end the standoff between BCCI and PCB regarding the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.