A day after a virtual ICC board meeting concluded without finalising the venue for the Champions Trophy in 2025, a final decision remains elusive. The PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi was in Dubai today, and while he took in Pakistan’s Under-19 victory over India, there was greater intrigue over whether the PCB, the BCCI and the ICC have been able to come to an arrangement over next year’s tournament.
As he did in the early hours of Thursday morning, Naqvi did not categorically rule out a hybrid model for the hosting of the tournament, something he has done in the past. “We will do whatever’s best for cricket,” he told reporters in Dubai. “If we adopt any other formula [except hosting the tournament in Pakistan], it will be done on the basis of equality. The most important thing for Pakistan is its respect; everything else is secondary.”
Once more, Naqvi repeated what he stated multiple times at the Gaddafi Stadium earlier in the week. “A one-sided arrangement is no longer acceptable. It cannot be the case that we continue to go to India, but they do not visit Pakistan. Whatever happens must be on the basis of equality.”
Naqvi’s repeated comments around “equality” have raised speculation that the PCB will seek to earn some concessions should they acquiesce to a hybrid model in any form. That could entail an agreement to have India play their matches outside Pakistan, but a decision that any future tournaments India hosts will offer provisions for Pakistan to play their matches outside India. There is also the possibility of some financial recompense for the PCB in addition to such an arrangement, though Naqvi did say earlier this week that decisions would not be based on money.
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