Najibullah alikhel, Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan

New Delhi [India], December 23: The Indian team will be playing their ICC Champions Trophy 2025 matches in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), hosts of the tournament, picking UAE as the neutral venue for the competition. reported ESPNcricinfo.In the first major decision under the chairmanship of Jay Shah, the International Cricket Council (ICC) finally put an end to the Champions Trophy 2025 hosting rights issue, deciding that the upcoming event will be played in Pakistan along with another neutral venue. Also, the hybrid model has been decided for all ICC events in the 2024-27 cycle which will be held in India or Pakistan.Due to strained political relations between the two nations, India has not toured Pakistan since 2008, when they participated in the Asia Cup. The two arch-rivals last played a bilateral series in 2012-13 in India, comprising white-ball matches. After that, India and Pakistan have primarily faced each other in ICC tournaments and Asia Cups.The decision to have UAE as a neutral venue was expected after a meeting of PCB chairperson Mohsin Naqvi, with senior UAE minister and head of Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) Sheikh Nahyan Al Mubarak in Pakistan, as per ESPNCricinfo."The PCB has picked the UAE as a neutral venue for the Champions Trophy," PCB spokesperson Amir Mir said as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.The much-anticipated contest between arch-rivals India and Pakistan will be played on a Sunday, February 23. Bangladesh and New Zealand are India's competitors in the group other than Pakistan. India will be playing against Bangladesh on February 20 and New Zealand on March 2, with all their matches likely to be held in Dubai.Pakistan, the defending champions, will be kickstarting the tournament in Karachi against New Zealand on February 19 and their last league match will be against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi on February 27.The second group will feature: Afghanistan, Australia, England and South Africa. Other than the Indian matches, the matches for other teams will be played across venues in Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi, as per ESPNCricinfo.The two semifinals will be played on March 4 and March 5 respectively, with the first one being without a reserve day. The final scheduled for March 9 will have a reserve day as well. The first semifinal, if India manages to qualify, will take place in UAE. Otherwise, the match will be in Pakistan. Also, the title clash is slotted for Lahore, with provisions to hold it in UAE if India manages to reach that stage of the tournament."The ICC Board has today approved that matches between India and Pakistan played at ICC Events during the current rights cycle from 2024 to 2027 (which are to be hosted in India or Pakistan) will be played at a neutral venue proposed by the tournament host. This will apply to the ICC Men's Champions Trophy 2025 (Pakistan), ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2025 (India) and the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 (India and Sri Lanka)," a statement from ICC had said on December 19.In addition, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has been awarded hosting rights of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup in 2028, where neutral venue arrangements will also apply. Cricket Australia has also been awarded hosting rights for one of the senior ICC women's events during the period 2029 to 2031.The eight-team event will feature Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, and South Africa, alongside hosts Pakistan.Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

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