With this, the PCB has significantly softened its stance as the board was earlier threatening to boycott the Champions Trophy if Pakistan is not given the hosting rights in full.

If the Champions Trophy goes ahead in a hybrid model, then India will most likely play its matches in Dubai. “The current situation is that PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi has said that it will only accept hosting the Champions Trophy on a hybrid model if the board agrees that in the future all ICC events will be on the same system with Pakistan not going to India to play matches,” news agency PTI quoted a source as saying.

As per the news agency PTI, PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi has even sought financial perks for the PCB to accept the hybrid model.

“Pakistan also wants the ICC board to increase its financial cycle share of revenues from 5.75 percent and Naqvi is insistent on this but he has not sought any additional hosting fees,” a source told PTI.

“People are saying that Naqvi has sought time to get back after talking to his government but we don’t know if he went there with the backing of the government and had already sought their approval to make his stand in the ICC board’s virtual meeting,” he added.

The eight-team Champions Trophy is currently slated to be held across Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Karachi, however, the fate of the competition hangs in the balance, considering the stand-off between India and Pakistan’s cricket boards.

The BCCI has already made it clear to the ICC that it won’t be sending its team to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy, which is slated to be played in February-March 2025. The back-and-forth continues to go on between the PCB and BCCI. The ICC Board Meeting on Friday was also not able to come up with a final solution regarding the fate of the tournament.

BCCI-PCB stand-off regarding Champions Trophy

Earlier, after the BCCI made its stance known to the ICC regarding not travelling to Pakistan, the PCB wrote to the apex cricketing body, asking for the reasons behind India’s refusal to tour across the border.

Earlier, PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi had stated that there is no question of accepting the hybrid model as he sees the entire tournament going ahead in Pakistan.

Reports in Pakistan media also stated that Pakistan can withdraw itself from the Champions Trophy if the tournament goes ahead in a hybrid model or is moved out of the country.

As of now, the Champions Trophy is slated to be played from February 19 to March 9 in Pakistan.

India and Pakistan have not been playing bilateral cricket since 2012. India had last toured Pakistan in 2008 for the Asia Cup.