The ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Say No to the Hybrid Model

DR Cricket’s take on any attempt to alter the format of the prestigious cricket tournament.

That the next ICC Champions Trophy tournament will be held in the spring of 2025, is a certainty. That Pakistan will be the host country, is cast in stone. Of course, barring Force Majure. An act of God that can take the form of a natural calamity or pestilence.

Security concerns are things of the past. Pakistan has repeatedly exhibited the preparedness of its security institutions by hosting nearly all major test playing nations in the past year or two. That, too, for longer durations. The recent visit by an ICC delegation has also shown its satisfaction over the security arrangements in Pakistan for the Champions Trophy. Pakistan is good to go.

All agree but one. The most powerful force in the cricketing world, the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) has not sent its cricket team to Pakistan since 2006. Politics, more than anything else, have the last say.

What if the Indian board refuses to send its team to Pakistan for the prestigious ICC event? There is every likelihood of that, since the governing body of the Indian cricket requires a green light from the Indian government to tour any country. This signal is most likely to stay red in the case of Pakistan.

India only plays Pakistan in ICC (International Cricket Council) and ACC (Asian Cricket Council) events. Asian cricket council has been easier to bend to the Indian will. The most recent example being the Asia Cup 2023 when Indian government refused to send its team to Pakistan. The result was a hybrid tournament held in two countries, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, with Pakistan – though retaining the hosting rights – being home to only 4 of the 13 matches. The result was a wet and lacklustre tournament as rained affected nearly all the matches held in Sri Lanka.

Pakistan should never have opted for the hybrid tournament. It only leaves room for more such options. The BCCI is already dropping hints that same accommodation will be made, come the Champions Trophy. Granted, its an ICC tournament. Hence far stronger consequences await those who abstain without plausible reason. But India always tends to have its way.

The Indian cricket is by far the richest cricket board among the permanent members of the ICC. And since it’s the money that always makes the mare trot in the right direction, BCCI wields an unmatched power over the affairs of world cricket.

However, every now and then, a voice of concern is raised about the situation. In the recent edition of Wisden Almanack – dubbed cricket’s Bible – its editor for the past 13 years Lawrence Booth pointed to the clout Indian cricket board wields in The Notes from The Editor section. Booth observed: “The answer to too many questions in cricket is: because we mustn’t upset India. And don’t the BCCI know it.”

He cited the example of the 2023 Cricket World Cup semifinal between India and New Zealand when the playing pitch was changed from the one that was “pre-agreed with Andy Atkinson”, the ICC’s pitch consultant. When the story was pursued by media during the world cup a hostile Indian media charged all guns blazing. Sunil Gavasker, the legendary Indian batter of the yore, now a respected commentator, went on a tirade in an interview to an Indian Channel saying, “You benefit from India, but India cannot benefit from India.”

Booth also casts aspersions on the role of those who can call BCCI out for such tactics: “Providing support, both tacit and explicit, were TV commentators either too fearful to speak openly, or despairingly in tune with the insidious nationalism.” With so many lucrative deals on the table, who in his right mind would offend the Goliath of the world cricket.

He went on to lament the way Shoaib Bashir, the young off-spinner of Pakistan origin, was made to wait before his visa to play in India was approved, forcing him to miss his flight with the English team embarking on a test tour to India. Usman Khawaja, one of the players of the year in the present edition of The Wisden Almanack, was treated in the same manner when Aussies last visited India for a test series. Prominent Indian historian Ramachandra Guha, called the treatment of Khawaja as “vicious and spiteful” in an interview to a renowned Indian journalist, Karan Thapar.

Already there are rumours for a hybrid model for the ICC Champions trophy to accommodate India. This isn’t in Pakistan’s interest. What if India makes it to the semi-final and then the final? Where would these matches be held? To have them at any place other than the host country would make a mockery of the tournament.

PCB is already embarking on a massive uplift of its cricket stadiums for the Champions trophy. Pakistan cricket needs a successful Champions Trophy. The world cricket needs it. It’s the last bastion of a dying format, the 50-over ODI. Pakistan needs to stand its ground. Maybe, the time has come for the David to come to the fore.