Champions Trophy 2025: For Pakistan, hosting 'Mini World Cup' massive beyond imagination

Nearly 16 years after the Sri Lankan cricket team came under attack by masked terrorists on its way to the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on the third morning of the second Test, the return of big-ticket cricket to Pakistan has been formalised with the ninth edition of the Champions Trophy a little over 24 hours away.

The events of 3 March 2009 had far-reaching ramifications; it wasn’t until 2015 that Pakistan hosted another international match, against Zimbabwe. The International Cricket Council put together a World XI, led by Faf du Plessis, which played three Twenty20 Internationals in Lahore in 2017, after which Sri Lanka, West Indies and Bangladesh made tours of Pakistan to lift the pall of gloom which had descended on the cricketing aficionados as well as the average fan.

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When Australia, England and South Africa joined the bandwagon in 2021, Pakistan’s reintegration as an international cricketing host was almost complete. It was in the same year that the ICC awarded the staging privileges of the 50-over Champions Trophy in 2025 to the Pakistan Cricket Board, at a time when the country was racked by political instability. It must already be considered a success of sorts that, despite the numerous roadblocks and continued uncertainty over the readiness of the three venues in Pakistan, the tournament is set for a smooth takeoff, although with one massive rider.

Neighbours India maintain no-travel policy for Pakistan

To no one’s surprise, India won’t be travelling to Pakistan. As early as in July last year, the first semi-official remarks to this effect started to surface and in November, the Board of Control for Cricket in India formally wrote to the ICC, outlining the stance of the Indian government which refused permission for its superstar cricketers to make the trip across the border. It set off a chain of events that eventually culminated in a miffed PCB agreeing to a hybrid model , but with pre-conditions of its own.

Foremost among them is an undertaking from the governing body that going forward, Pakistan will play their matches in ICC tournaments to be hosted by India at a neutral venue. A hybrid model is far from ideal and places numerous logistical demands, but then again, this is far from an ideal world, isn’t it?

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From Pakistan’s viewpoint, to be able to host a tournament of this magnitude is massive beyond imagination. The last time a mega event was held in that country was in 1996, when they jointly hosted the World Cup alongside India and Sri Lanka. The final of the tournament, witnessed by a packed Gaddafi house in Lahore, saw the Sri Lankans being crowned champions for the first time following a popular victory against Australia.

To those of a recent vintage, it might be unimaginable that India and Pakistan would come together to co-host the most prestigious 50-over tournament in the world, but 1996 wasn’t the first time they had done so. They had together conducted the corresponding edition in 1987 too, overcoming teething problems and inherent distrust through commonsense and prudence, driven by seasoned administrators who were capable of shedding myopia and looking at the larger picture.

To welcome back the best cricketers in the world – cross that, most of the best cricketers in the world – under one roof after so long must be heart-warming for a nation so desperate for high-quality cricket for so long. Even in the past, once limited-overs action took deep root and spread its tentacles far and wide, the fans swapped loyalties, jettisoning their love for Test cricket as they thronged the grounds to partake of instant gratification.

Indeed, when India travelled to Pakistan in early 2004 for their first full series there since 1989, the five ODIs were all played out to packed stands but the three Tests that followed received scarce patronage. Such was the apathy during the first Test in Multan, then-skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq’s hometown, that Inzy was repeatedly questioned about the lack of audiences. After a while, the big man lost his cool and unleashed one of his unforgettable one-liners: Ab kya jaake main ticket bhi bechun? (Should I now go and sell tickets as well?).

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Both of Pakistan’s guaranteed home matches will attract full houses, but it will be interesting to see how the other games are received. Earlier this month, a triangular series between eventual champions New Zealand, South Africa and the hosts was well attended, but given the prickly history between Pakistan and two more of their Asian neighbours – Bangladesh and Afghanistan – things are unlikely to be anything but straightforward.

Promise of security comes with great responsibility

The promise of impregnable security is a significant one that comes with great responsibility and pressure. Pakistan is still a hotbed of unsavoury activity – at least, pockets of it are – and those tasked with ensuring the safety of the seven teams that will be playing there have left no stone unturned in their bid to provide an incident-free tournament. If things go according to plan, the blueprint for the successful conduct of future events will be in place. Who knows, in a different time, maybe even India will be encouraged to make the short hop across the border, where they can expect to be welcomed with warmth like Sourav Ganguly’s team was in 2004 and Rahul Dravid’s two years later.

The Champions Trophy has been a divisive tournament. Originally conceived as a shootout involving the top eight teams in the world, it has undergone massive changes format-wise, and seemed to have been put on the backburner until India’s success in 2013 in England catalysed a revival. The last of the eight editions was held, also in England, in 2017 when Pakistan crushed India in a one-sided final at The Oval in London. The troubled tournament makes a comeback after eight years, and the irony isn’t lost on anyone. The oft forgotten and much maligned event is now the trigger for a significant development in world cricket, potentially the start of the normalisation of the cricket world.

Is there a sense of being snubbed and insulted in Pakistan because India have refused to make the trip? Without a shadow of doubt. At a very basic level, most stakeholders perhaps understand why India have made this call, but they are finding it hard to accept it. There’s not much they can do about it. Despite the omnipresent last-minute glitches that characterise our part of the world, despite the skepticism and lingering uncertainty, Pakistan are as ready to host the Champions Trophy as anyone can be.

For generations of cricket lovers who couldn’t watch even their own homegrown heroes in the flesh and blood for so long, this couldn’t have come a moment sooner. Financially, a huge windfall awaits; Pakistan, though, will be seized of the less tangible but more significant gains, foremost among them regaining the trust and confidence of the cricket world.