After months of lack of clarity, India have made clear that they will not travel to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy in 2025. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have notified the International Cricket Council (ICC) and various stakeholders about their decision. Subsequently, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have been informed about BCCI’s stance on travelling to the arch-rivals.
In retaliation, Pakistan are reportedly considering pulling out of the Champions Trophy if the tournament moves to a hybrid model.
India’s stance of not wanting to travel to Pakistan for a big-ticket ICC event due to security concerns is not the first such headache for the global body.
In 1996, Australia and West Indies had refused to play their matches in Sri Lanka during the ODI World Cup that was joint-hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The move had come at a time when Colombo Central Bank was bombed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in January that year and resulted in 91 dead and 1400 injured.
To counter the safety concerns raised, Sri Lanka, like Pakistan, offered maximum security to the teams. But Australia and West Indies didn’t budge in their position leading Sri Lanka to question the validity of citing security concerns when the ICC had determined it was safe.
After negotiations, ICC decided that Australia, West Indies would forfeit both their games against Sri Lanka in Colombo. As a result, Sri Lanka pocketed two points each from both games.
Due to this decision, Sri Lanka automatically qualified for the quarter-finals even before playing a game. As it turned out, the Arjuna Ranatunga-led team would go on to win the tournament, beating Australia at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
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