Hyderabad: With the Champions Trophy 2025 set to be played next year, the discussion around India touring Pakistan is going on in the cricketing circles. There are around six months to go for the competition and India’s participation has been a hot topic.
India's visit to Pakistan is not confirmed yet, but Pakistan is hopeful that the Indian cricket team will tour Pakistan according to some media reports. Also, some media reports have claimed that India wants tall matches of the Champions Trophy to be played in a hybrid model. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Vice President Rajiv Shukla has stated that India will tour Pakistan if the central government allows them.
Will the armed security accompany the Indian team?
Usually, security teams visit a country in case of any event or tournament when there is a security threat before the tour. These teams are sent to assess the security of cricket grounds and other facilities but the responsibility to provide main security to the visiting players is on the shoulders of the host country. Security managers accompany the national cricket team.
No cricket team is allowed to take armed security with them. If the country feels threatened in touring overseas, only security officials are allowed to travel with the team. Following are the examples where security officials travelled with the touring teams.
Pakistan’s Bangladesh tour
According to a report by Cricbuz, the Bangladesh government received a request from their country's cricket board to provide security advisors for the Pakistan tour. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had said that it had also permitted this.
New Zealand’s tour to Pakistan
A security delegation of New Zealand Cricket went to Pakistan before the start of the series in April to assess the security arrangements.
Pakistan tour of England 2024
According to a report by Geo News, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) provided two security officers to the Pakistan cricket team.
2008 England tour of India
England and Wales Cricket Board’s security expert Reg Dickason visited India to monitor the security situation and held a meeting with the officials and discussed security arrangements for the two Test-match series.
2005 England Tour of Pakistan
A couple of England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) security experts visited Pakistan to inspect the security arrangements in venues. England had expressed concern over playing in the southern port city on the tour which commenced in October 2005.
