LAHORE: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has deferred its crucial meeting regarding the Champions Trophy 2025, which was set to take place today (Saturday), Geo News reported citing sources.
The sources revealed that the meeting was postponed due to the lack of response by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to the demands put forward by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) over the long-standing dispute between the two sides regarding the venue of much-awaited Champions Trophy 2025.
Pakistan and India reportedly made a “breakthrough” on the matter of event’s venue a day earlier, agreeing to play their matches at neutral venues for ICC tournaments hosted by either one of them.
Sources said that under the new arrangement, India’s matches will take place in Dubai, while Pakistan’s games in the India-hosted T20 World Cup will also be held at neutral venues.
The agreement will reportedly apply to all ICC events through 2027.
During this time, India is set to host the Women’s ODI World Cup in October 2024 and the Men’s T20 World Cup in 2026 alongside Sri Lanka and Pakistan had insisted on a reciprocal hybrid arrangement for these events in India.
Following the acceptance of Pakistan’s key condition yesterday, as reported by sources, it was anticipated that the event’s schedule would be announced within the next 48 hours, as the ICC was set to hold a meeting today again.
The Champions Trophy is scheduled to commence in February, with Pakistan as the host, though India has refused to send its team to Pakistan, citing traditional hesitance.
Earlier in the day, sources said that Pakistan and India were also engaged in ongoing discussions regarding the ICC also being part of the talks aimed at finding a solution and finalising the tournament’s schedule — which was being redrawn due to the hybrid model.
The issues discussed by the stakeholders include those pertaining to logistics.
The ICC meeting, noted the sources, would be held once the issues are finalised at the executive level.
Additionally, they also underscored the progress in the backdoor dialogue and said that the the issues were close to being resolved.
“The matters have started moving forward in a positive way [….] The ICC is expected to make an announcement soon,” they added.
Pakistan, as per sources, stands to earn $6 million from hosting rights, excluding additional revenue from ticket sales and hospitality.
However, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) must allocate $1.2–1.3 million for tournament insurance.
Comparatively, India enjoys a significant financial advantage, receiving 38% of ICC’s annual revenue share, amounting to $90–95 million.
In recent years, the ICC has made sure that India play Pakistan at least once in each of global cricketing events, ensuring a major chunk of revenue from this game.
The India-Pakistan match at the 2023 World Cup drew unprecedented interest, with 173 million viewers on Indian TV and 225 million digital viewers.
The 2021 T20 World Cup match between the two sides reached 167 million viewers and drove 15.9 billion minutes of engagement in India alone, highlighting Pakistan’s role in generating cricket viewership and revenue figures. (Geo News)
