Champions Trophy 2025 Without India Not An Option, Says ECB Officials

ECB officials have clarified that playing the Champions Trophy 2025 without India is not an option according to a report Published by ESPNcricinfo.

Hyderabad (India): The top leadership in the England Cricket Board (ECB) has stated the need to protect broadcast rights will see no changes in the participating teams in the women’s T20 World Cup 2024. They have said that there won’t be any change in the number in spite of the fact whether India will travel to Pakistan or not for the tournament according to a report published by ESPNcricinfo. The competition is scheduled to take place in Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi but India hasn’t played any fixture in Pakistani soil since 2008.

ECB’s chief executive Richard Gould said that there are a lot of options available in case India decides not to travel to Pakistan.

"lots of different alternatives and contingencies available" in the event that India do not travel to Pakistan, raising the possibility of a hybrid model being used. But they clarified that the Champions Trophy going ahead without India's involvement is not an option.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) did not send a team to Pakistan last year for the Asia Cup due to the tense relations between India and Pakistan. The tournament was then shifted to a hybrid model with India playing their matches in Sri Lanka.

ECB chairman Richard Thompson has stated that India is not participating in the Champions Trophy

"It would not be in cricket's interests for India not to be playing in the Champions Trophy. It's interesting, with Jay Shah - the former secretary of the BCCI and now chair of the ICC - [who] is going to have a big role to play in that. There's geopolitics, and then there's cricketing geopolitics. I think they'll find a way. They have to find a way,” Thompson stated.