India’s demand for Champions Trophy ‘sacrifices cricket’s integrity’

There will be two venues in the 2025 Champions Trophy which will be hosted by Pakistan with India playing all their matches in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a move indicating that the tournament eventually had to settle itself according to the demands of the Modi-ruled country, according to an opinion piece published in The Telegraph.

The final has been scheduled to be played in Lahore, however, if India qualifies for this match then it will also be shifted to the UAE.

The situation has been described as extraordinary in the world of sports as one country effectively gets power to stop another from hosting a final which was already agreed.

Moreover, this situation also opens up the possibility that the final’s venue will not be known until March 4, which is only five days before the final.

It is worth noting that Lahore has been preparing to host the final, which would be Pakistan’s first time to host a final of a world event since 1996. If India qualifies, these plans will have to be abandoned without any thoughts to fans or organisers.

Back in 2021, Pakistan were announced as hosts of the Champions Trophy and the International Cricket Council (ICC) awarded the country all 15 matches.

During that time, no provisions were made regarding India’s matches to be played in a different country. However, despite this, the agreement was disregarded and the entire organisation of the tournament rearranged to suit India.

Additionally, the competition’s seven other competing nations do not know where they will play their knockout matches, if they qualify.

With absolute certainty, India alone know their prospective venues for the semi-final and final.

Earlier, the same theme of ICC events took place from India’s end. In the World Cup of 2019, India did not play their first game until eight days into the tournament.

India played the last group game in the tournament in both the 2021 and 2022 T20 World Cups, meaning that, should qualification be determined by net run rate, the side would know exactly what they needed to do to qualify.

Furthermore, this year in T20 World Cup, India did not enjoy the same advantage but they received a perhaps even greater benefit as they were guaranteed to play their semi-final in Guyana, regardless of where they finished in the preceding stage.