New Delhi: The tussle over the organization of ICC Champions Trophy 2025 continues. Pakistan Cricket Board and ICC are face-to-face. PCB says that it will not organize this tournament under the hybrid model, while ICC has told it in strong words that if it does not do so, then it should be ready to face the consequences. Pakistan can be excluded from the Champions Trophy. Not only this, if the hosting of the Champions Trophy is taken away from Pakistan, then PCB will suffer a loss of crores. There can also be a huge cut in the annual revenue of the Pakistan Cricket Board. In such a situation, Pakistan should give up its stubbornness and accept the ICC’s point and play on the hybrid model.
According to sources, a case of mutual discord is coming to the fore in the Pakistan Cricket Board. Some top officials of the PCB are ready to organize the Champions Trophy on a hybrid model, while there are some who are not ready for it. But seeing the way the ICC has reprimanded the PCB, it is believed that the Pakistan Board will be ready for hybrid. In such a situation, the Indian team can play its match in Dubai. If the hosting of the Champions Trophy is taken away from Pakistan or this tournament is postponed, then in that condition PCB may suffer a loss of 60 lakh dollars i.e. about 50.73 crores. There may also be a huge loss of about 296 crores in the annual revenue of PCB.
The schedule was to be decided in February-March:
The PCB had clearly refused to host the competition according to the hybrid model in the ICC Board meeting a day earlier. The purpose of the board meeting was to decide the schedule in February-March next year, but despite India’s refusal to travel to Pakistan due to security concerns, the PCB once again rejected the ‘hybrid’ model, after which consensus could not be reached. Most members of the ICC Board were sympathetic to Pakistan’s position, but PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi was still advised to accept the hybrid model as the only solution to the current dispute.
The tournament can be organized without Pakistan:
If the hybrid model is adopted, India will play its Champions Trophy in the United Arab Emirates. An ICC board source said, ‘No broadcaster will pay for any ICC tournament in which India is not involved. Pakistan knows this very well. If Pakistan does not accept the hybrid model, then the Champions Trophy can be organized in another country and Pakistan will not be involved in it.’
