With Pakistan winning the hosting rights for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, the discussion among fans currently is of whether India would travel to Pakistan to take part in the tournament.
India last toured Pakistan in 2005-06 and since then the two teams have played fewer times in a bilateral series. Due to the political and border tensions between the two nations, the cricket activity is at a standstill as of now. However the two countries have continued to play each other in ICC tournaments.
Now with Pakstan hosting an ICC tournament which all Test playing nations have to take part in, it will be interesting to see what is going to be the stance of the BCCI as well as government of India.
Two days back, Indian Sports Minister Anurag Thakur was asked the same question and he said that this call has to be taken when the time comes. He added that security concerns have to be taken care of before deciding on touring Pakistan.
He said, "Even in past, many countries have refused to play in Pakistan due to security concerns. As you all know, many players were even attacked while playing over there and that's a big issue to be dealt with."
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has already said that the call to tour Pakistan rests in hands of the Indian government.
PCB boss Raja feels that it will not be easy for India to pull out of the mega event as teams are under a lot of pressure.
He told Pakistani media in an online conversation, "Bilateral series look very difficult but tri-nation could still be possible. When it comes to international tournaments, pulling out isn't as easy as you are under a lot of pressure. When countries are given hosting rights for these tournaments, all of these things are discussed in advance. I don't think it will happen (India pulling out of Asia Cup)".
Raja added that he had met Ganguly recently and spoke about how to take the global game forward. He said that with cricketers at helm of things in administration, the talks will be easier.
