In the recent developments made around the Champions Trophy 2025, PCB has finally agreed to host the tournament in a hybrid model. However, their agreement is conditioned with several demands.
Reportedly, the chairman of PCB Mohsin Naqvi has raised questions over a one-sided decision. He has requested ICC to come up with an equitable solution for the problem.
If India cannot travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy 2025, Pakistan will also not travel to India for any of the upcoming ICC tournaments.
‘We will do what is best for cricket. It is definitely not a hybrid formula, but if a new formula is formed, it will be an equal one,’ says Mohsin Naqvi in one of his recent statements.
PCB has agreed to consider the hybrid model. Under this model, matches requiring India’s participation will be played at a neutral location such as the UAE.
But they demand for a similar provision to be offered to Pakistan in the upcoming ICC tournaments hosted by India.
They are advocating for a written, long-term agreement that stretches up the hybrid-fusion model far beyond the Champions Trophy. PCB wants this hybrid model to stay for at least three years or the international cricketing cycle which is expected to end by the year 2031.
Coincidentally, India is to co-host three major ICC events in the upcoming years. Therefore, agreeing to the PCB’s extended hybrid solution would mean shifting the matches of Pakistan to a neutral location in all those tournaments.
While this seems to be the fair and final solution for the ongoing dilemma of the Champions Trophy, insider reports suggest that BCCI has refused to accept the model.
They claim that the hybrid model for the Champions Trophy is requested due to security concerns in Pakistan. India is safe to travel for players from any nation and they have hosted secure tournaments many times, making no sense for a hybrid model to be adopted for the events they would be hosting.