In a massive development, the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday announced Pakistan as the host for the 2025 Champions Trophy.
Significantly, Pakistan had last staged an ICC event in 1996 when they co-hosted the 50-over World Cup with India and Sri Lanka and it will now be after 29 years when an ICC event returns t the cuntry.
Pakistan has been largely starved of international cricket particularly since the 2009 attack on the touring Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore.
The development came as the ICC confirmed the 14 host countries of ICC men’s white-ball events from 2024-2031 as per which, 11 full members and three associate members have been selected to host two ICC Men’s Cricket World Cups, four ICC Men’s T20 World Cups and two ICC Men’s Champions Trophy events.
Commenting on the development, and elated Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ramiz Raja thanked the ICC for awarding the Champions Trophy 2025 to Pakistan and said that the event will showcase his country’s passion for the sport.
In a statement, issued by the PCB, Raja said: “I am pleased no-end with the ICC’s decision to select Pakistan as a host nation for one of their elite tournaments. By allocating a major global event to Pakistan, the ICC has expressed complete confidence and faith in our management and operational capabilities and skills.”
“We have continued to demonstrate how a great host we are and through the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, we will again showcase our passion and love for the sport as this event will be a boon to the millions of home fans, who will see world class teams and their favourite international players from close quarters,” he added.
Notably, PCB has been trying its best for the return of international cricket in the country.
“We not only endeavour to plan and deliver a world-class event, we will also prepare and field a strong and formidable side that can perform and entertain our home fans. We saw during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup campaign how the nation got united and the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 at home will be another opportunity to further strengthen that bond as we defend the title,” Raja further expressed.
Also, it will be for the first time when the USA and Namibia will host an ICC World Cup event as the former has been selected as the co-host of the 2024 T20 World Cup while the latter, an African nation, will jointly host the 2027 One-Day International (ODI) World Cup with South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Significantly, the hosts were selected via a competitive bidding process overseen by a Board sub-committee chaired by Martin Snedden along with Sourav Ganguly and Ricky Skerritt. The ICC Board accepted the recommendations of the committee who conducted a thorough review of each bid along with ICC management.
The global cricket governing boday also said that a similar process to identify the hosts for ICC Women’s and U19s events for the next cycle will be undertaken early next year.