The International Cricket Council’s board of directors met for all of 15 minutes on Friday with no decision on the schedule for the 2025 Champions Trophy.
The tournament, which is scheduled to begin on 19 February, remains in limbo over India’s refusal to travel to host nation Pakistan.
There is no word on when the ICC board is expected to reconvene, though media reports indicate that it will happen in the “coming days”.
With the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) sticking to its stated position that the idea of a ‘hybrid’ staging of the tournament was unacceptable, and world cricket’s financial powerhouse BCCI remaining intransigent, the suspense continues.
Be that as it may, the end game scenario is clearly at hand and all bets remain on the ICC board – comprising 12 full members and three directors from the Associate nations – ultimately backing India’s position.
An isolated Pakistan will then have only two options. Swallow “wounded national pride” and accept the hybrid model with some financial incentives the ICC will likely offer. Or boycott the event altogether and move the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the ICC. Choose the second option and an already financially constrained PCB will be likely staring at international isolation in global cricket, whatever be the outcome of its case before the CAS (if it chooses that route).
