A likely breakthrough has emerged in the standoff over the 2025 Champions Trophy: the ICC and the PCB are believed to have reached an in-principle agreement to adopt the hybrid model for global tournaments being hosted in Pakistan or India until 2027. Such an arrangement would allow the two to play their games at ICC tournaments being hosted by the other in a neutral country.
Though the agreement has been confirmed to ESPNcricinfo by various sources, the PCB – official host of the 2025 Champions Trophy – has not commented on it, revealing only that discussions continue.
It is not known yet whether the hybrid model would be applicable to both men’s and women’s tournaments. In the ICC’s current commercial cycle (2024-27), there are three global events scheduled to be hosted in either country: the Champions Trophy in Pakistan next February, the women’s ODI World Cup in India later in the year, and the men’s T20 World Cup in 2026 that will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka.
ESPNcricinfo understands the development emerged on Thursday after meetings between the new ICC chair Jay Shah and PCB chair Mohsin Naqvi. They met in Dubai, on the sidelines of a courtesy board meeting arranged by Shah, who was visiting the ICC headquarters in the city in his new role for the first time. A Board meeting to discuss the Champions Trophy has been scheduled for December 7.
The PCB’s acceptance of a hybrid model for the eight-team Champions Trophy is believed to be contingent on a set of conditions. One of the those is that a hybrid model should be applicable for all ICC events, including women’s, hosted in India and Pakistan until at least 2027 if not the entire current events cycle until 2031.
Other conditions are said to centre around compensation for a potential loss of commercial revenue from India’s Champions Trophy games being played at a separate overseas venue. If India were to make it to the knockout stages, then at least one semi-final and potentially the final are likely to be played outside Pakistan. The UAE and Sri Lanka are among the frontrunners for this.
The PCB, it is understood, has suggested arranging a tri-nation series involving India, Pakistan and another country as a way to offset any financial loss suffered by either board due to matches involving India and Pakistan being played elsewhere.
There is likely to be more back and forth between the two boards and the ICC on the matter, with the final call likely to be taken at the Board meeting on December 7.
Hosts PCB had pencilled the tournament in for a February 19 start, with Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi as the host cities. But, because of the impasse between the PCB and BCCI – the latter told the ICC last month that it could not travel to Pakistan for the tournament because it did not have the Indian government’s clearance – the ICC has not been able to release a schedule for the event.
Shah promises ‘new era’ for the world game
Shah, who was the BCCI secretary from December 2019 until December 1 this year, has officially taken charge at the ICC, becoming its youngest chair at 36. In his first media statement in the ICC role, Shah said the global body was embarking on a “new era” and his aim was to take the game to “unprecedented heights” collectively with the member countries. While the entire ICC Board was not present in person on Thursday, Shah said he discussed the “initial roadmap and strategies to shape the future” of the game with several directors.
With Shah moving to the ICC, there has been intrigue about who will replace him as BCCI secretary. Since 2022 Shah had also been the BCCI’s representative to ICC Board, where he held influential positions including heading the Finance & Commercial Affairs Committee. While the BCCI has not made any statement on who will be the next secretary, the board’s joint-secretary, Devajit Saikia, was present at the ICC meetings in Dubai this week. Potentially, then, Saikia, could be the BCCI representative on the ICC Board.