Champions Trophy: UAE Under Consideration As Neutral Venue, IND vs PAK May Happen In Dubai | Reports

The ICC made a huge announcement regarding the Champions Trophy 2025, and it has been made official that the tournament will be held in hybrid mode. After a lot of deliberation, the announcement was made to satisfy the needs of the participating nations, particularly India. While the schedule is yet to be announced, the neutral venue is also yet to be determined. While a couple of venues are under consideration, it looks like the Pakistan cricket board has narrowed it down to one location, and Team India’s matches could happen in the UAE.

After it was announced that the Champions Trophy would be held in the hybrid mode, two locations were being witnessed as the potential neutral venues for the marquee ICC tournament. As per GeoNews, the choice has been narrowed down to the United Arab Emirates, with Dubai hosting all of Team India’s matches, including the much-anticipated clash against Pakistan.

Reports also stated that the Pakistan Cricket Board Supremo, Mohsin Naqvi, met with the Emirates Cricket Board head, Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, in Pakistan on December 21, 2024. The next day, reports surfaced that the UAE looks to be a lock for the neutral venues for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Sri Lanka was also under consideration, with Colombo emerging as a possible location for India’s matches. But it looks like the PCB has seemingly agreed to Dubai as the location.

The longstanding deadlock between the BCCI and PCB has finally been put to rest in the ICC tournaments. While the Champions Trophy have been shifted to the hybrid model, the PCB has been compensated for their losses by granting them the hosting rights for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2028.

Additionally, a neutral location will host India vs. Pakistan matches in ICC tournaments for the ensuing four years. This implies that Pakistan will not travel to India for the Women’s ODI World Cup 2025 and the Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, just as India is not required to visit Pakistan for the Champions Trophy.