Champions Trophy: Decks cleared as ICC finally approves hybrid model

The suspense over the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy finally ended on Thursday after a protracted battle of egos between the Indian and Pakistan cricket boards for nearly a month. After maintaining a conspicuous silence over the issue as the backroom negotiations were going on, cricket's Dubai-based world governing body announced that the tournament in February-March will be held in a ‘hybrid model’.

The model — mooted by the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) after it announced that it would not be sending Rohit Sharma & Co. to Pakistan to play owing to ‘safety concerns’ — was initially rejected by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as the latter insisted on hosting the entire tournament on its own.

However, the marquee ODI tournament will now see India’s matches being played at a neutral venue and in return, Pakistan’s matches in ICC (International Cricket Council) events hosted by India in the 2024-27 cycle will also be held at neutral venues as per their insistence.

The resolution, accepted by the ICC board of members, says all matches are taken to include knockout games such as the semis and final, which formed a major bone of contention in the initial discussions. An ICC press release said: ‘’India and Pakistan matches hosted by either country at ICC events during the 2024-2027 rights cycle will be played at a neutral venue, the ICC Board confirmed on Thursday, 19 December.’’ 

This will apply to the upcoming ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 (hosted by Pakistan), set to be played in February-March 2025, the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 (hosted by India) and the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 (hosted by India and Sri Lanka).

The choice of neutral venue is left to the tournament hosts (Pakistan in case of the 2025 Champions Trophy) and will be approved by the ICC. There are no prizes for guessing that UAE (read Dubai) has been the frontrunner as it has already acted as a ‘neutral venue’ in the past, though Sri Lanka has also been in contention. Now that the tangle has been resolved, fixtures of the 15-match tournament are expected anytime.

Women's World T20 in Pakistan

The agreement, which begins with the Champions Trophy in Pakistan, will apply to the 2025 women’s ODI World Cup in India and the 2026 men’s T20 World Cup co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka. The last event offers a potentially easy solution with Sri Lanka as co-hosts, but it would mean that any game India and Pakistan are drawn to play — a group game or a knockout — will be held in Sri Lanka.

It could also apply to the 2028 women’s T20 World Cup, the first tournament of the next event cycle, which has now been awarded to Pakistan.

The eight-team men’s Champions Trophy will feature Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, and South Africa alongside hosts Pakistan.