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BCCI, PCB Agree On hybrid Champions Trophy model

Written by Vishwas Gupta

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have reportedly agreed with the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025 to be held in a hybrid model with all of India’s games set to take place in Dubai.

Pakistan would host 10 games in the tournament while the highly-anticipated match-up against India is set to take place in Dubai along with the rest of India’s games. In addition, if India is knocked out at the end of the league stages, the knockout games will take place in Lahore and Rawalpindi.

In addition, the BCCI and the PCB have an agreement in principle that Pakistan would not travel to India for the 2026 T20 World Cup for the India vs Pakistan match. Their games would take place in Sri Lanka as they are co-hosts.

The PCB will not get compensation for not being able to host the tournament but would get to host an ICC Women’s tournament after 2027.

The PCB wanted to play their games in Colombo with the venues for the semi-final and final, yet to be finalised.

The tournament is set to begin from February 19 to March 9. The eight participating teams will be divided into two groups where each of the top two teams will progress to the semi-final.

The ACC Men’s Asia Cup in 2023 was also hosted in a similar hybrid format with Pakistan playing their first few games at home while India played their games in Sri Lanka.

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Vishwas Gupta