The International Cricket Council (ICC) recently confirmed the 14 host countries of the ICC men's limited-overs events from 2024-2031. Pakistan has got the rights to host ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
This will also be the first major global cricket tournament played in Pakistan since 1996. They had jointly hosted the 1996 World Cup along with India and Sri Lanka.
There haven't been frequent Pakistan tours from Test-playing nations since the militant attack on the Sri Lankan team in 2009. But Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ramiz Raja is confident that there will be no pull-outs from the Champions Trophy 2025.
Speaking to media via an online conference, Ramiz said Pakistan is fully capable of hosting the tournament and it's a breakthrough for Pakistan cricket. Recently, New Zealand had abandoned the Pakistan tour, while England Cricket Board canceled their tour to take care of their players' mental health.
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“We are organising this event on our own, not sharing it with anyone else. We have to do a lot of work to prepare ourselves for this event now. This is a milestone for us and I hope there are more to come. We will be hosting the Asia Cup before that too,” he stated.
Ramiz further said that there won't be a last-minute pull-out from the teams from the tournament. “It is not going to happen," he said.
“They [ICC] went through all the pros and cons and after going through the details, came to the conclusion that Pakistan is fit enough to host and administer the Champions Trophy. You shouldn’t worry at all. I don’t think there will be any negativity or any pullouts at all.
“We won’t be going to the UAE for the Asia Cup or the Champions Trophy. Not everything happens because of India. We are also here. Don’t worry,” he added.
Ramiz urged the fans and media to not pay attention to what other boards have got after a journalist pointed out that India has got three events to host.
“We need to focus on what we can do, forget the rest. This is major progress, that we have hosting rights to an ICC event after 28 years. If we continue to question why this and why not that, then I would say, the sky is the limit and one can’t be satisfied.
"Things don’t happen according to what one wishes, you need to bring a lot of things under consideration before finalizing event hosts,” he said.
The 59-year-old understands that if New Zealand and England had not pulled out of the Pakistan tour, things would have been much easier. “It wasn’t an easy thing to present our case in the ICC because we had to change Pakistan’s perception. Things would’ve been much easier had New Zealand and England not pulled out. We convinced the world that Pakistan can’t be ignored," he said.
Ramiz further added that Pakistan Super League (PSL) is not the only factor due to which they got to host an ICC event in coming years. “One neutral security adviser had suggested that security arrangements in Pakistan are better than arrangements at EPL and Formula 1,” he disclosed.
The ex-Pakistan cricketer also spoke on ties with India and said he's in a very good working relationship with the BCCI president Sourav Ganguly but the political tension between the two countries is a huge barrier.
“A bilateral series with India may not be something easy to organise at this stage but we may work on some triangular events sometimes. But let me tell you that one can’t withdraw that easily from a major tournament. When a country is named as host then it means that teams have to tour the country.
"I have a good working relationship with Sourav Ganguly and have discussed how to take cricket forward. As far as India-Pakistan cricket is concerned, it faces political hurdles,” he said.
(With Geo News Inputs)
