After all the drama and controversies, the ICC Champions Trophy is all set to begin on Wednesday, with host nation and defending champion Pakistan taking on New Zealand in the opener at the National Stadium in Karachi.
The 50-over tournament will be making a return after an eight-year hiatus. The event will comprise eight teams, picked based on their ranking in the 2023 ODI World Cup.
Sri Lanka failed to make the Champions Trophy cut for the first time, while Afghanistan will be making their debut.
The Mohammad Rizwan-led side will head into the ninth edition of the tournament as defending champions, having beaten India by an emphatic margin of 180 runs in the 2017 final at The Oval. However, much has changed for Pakistan since their maiden Champions Trophy haul, with Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman being the only constants.
Pakistan was named the host for the 2025 Champions Trophy in 2021. It will mark the first global tournament in the country since the 2009 attack on the touring Sri Lankan team. The incident led to the ICC shifting the 2009 Champions Trophy from Pakistan to South Africa. The last time Pakistan staged an ICC tournament was the 1996 World Cup, which it co-hosted with India and Sri Lanka.
BCCI confirmed to the ICC that the Indian government did not give clearance to the Rohit Sharma-led Indian side to travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy. UAE was picked as the neutral venue for all of India’s matches. In fact, the ICC adopted the hybrid model for every tournament until 2027, implying that neither team won’t travel to their neighbouring country.
