Will the Champions Trophy schedule be out on Thursday? There’s reportedly a meeting between the International Cricket Council (ICC) top brass and the tournament broadcasters on Thursday, leading to speculations that finally the imbroglio might be resolved.
But there’s a new deadlock. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has softened its stand and agreed to a hybrid model – they are rephrasing it as a partnership model – demanding a similar arrangement for the future ICC events in India also. It has been refused by the BCCI. The Indian cricket board’s standpoint is that unlike Pakistan, there are no security issues in India.
The BCCI didn’t get the approval from the Indian government to send the team to Pakistan for next year’s Champions Trophy – scheduled in February-March – due to security reasons. Until the ICC Board meeting last Friday, the PCB remained steadfast about not accepting a hybrid model for the tournament. But as, according to sources, Pakistan stood alone in the global body, with all the other participating boards siding with the BCCI and supporting a hybrid model, the PCB eventually changed its stance. In fact, they were presented with the options of accepting a hybrid model or risk losing the tournament.
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It is learnt that under the proposed hybrid model, nine matches will be played in Pakistan, while India will play their three group league matches in Dubai. The semi-finals and the final will be played in Dubai as well. While agreeing to this arrangement, the PCB wants Dubai (or a second country) to become the venue for all India-Pakistan matches in the ICC tournaments for the next three years at least. The next ICC events in India are as follows – the 2025 women’s ODI World Cup, the 2026 men’s T20 World Cup, the 2029 men’s Champions Trophy and the 2031 men’s ODI World Cup.
The PCB might also ask for an added incentive apart from the hosting fee for the Champions Trophy, which is around $65 million. A bigger share of the ICC revenue, which currently stands at 5.75 per cent of the global body’s total projected earnings of $600 million for the 2024-2027 cycle, is said to be on their wish list as well. But the PCB’s partnership model mainly stresses upon picking a neutral venue for all the future India-Pakistan matches in the ICC tournaments, and it is unlikely to be accepted by the BCCI.
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