No clarity yet on Rohit travelling to Pakistan for Champions Trophy captains event

There is no clear answer to whether India captain Rohit Sharma will travel to Pakistan for the ICC’s official captains call to ring in the 2025 Champions Trophy. The captains event, which as per practice happens in the host country, is tentatively scheduled around February 16 or 17 in Karachi, but the BCCI is yet to get any official communication on it from the ICC.

“It [Rohit travelling to Pakistan] has not yet been discussed. It is not on the agenda yet,” Devajit Saikia, the BCCI’s newly-appointed secretary, told ESPNcricinfo.

It could not be confirmed whether the BCCI would need the Indian government’s permission for Rohit to travel to Pakistan.

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Due to the climate of political tension between the two countries, India and Pakistan have played no bilateral series since 2012, but continue to meet at ICC tournaments. While Pakistan have travelled to India for ICC tournaments in this period, India have not played any international cricket in Pakistan since 2008.

With the BCCI insisting that India would not travel to Pakistan for their matches, the ICC in co-ordination with the PCB, the tournament hosts, decided upon a hybrid model for ICC events until 2027, with Dubai named as the host of India’s Champions Trophy games.
While there is no recent precedent for an India player visiting Pakistan in an official capacity, there is one involving BCCI officials. In 2023, Roger Binny and Rajeev Shukla, the BCCI’s president and vice-president, travelled to Lahore for an official PCB dinner during the Asia Cup, after being invited by the then PCB chair Zaka Ashraf.

It is understood that the PCB has requested the ICC to ensure that, as per standard practice, all teams and captains are available for the Champions Trophy photoshoot, opening ceremony and other pre-tournament engagements. The ICC, it is understood, is still finalising logistics and travel dates for teams.

Incidentally, the ICC did not organise a captains event ahead of the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup which was co-hosted by the West Indies and the USA. With teams playing warm-up matches in several countries, the ICC instead opted to do the official launch via a lighting projection show that featured all 20 captains beamed onto the Rockefeller Centre building in New York City. It is understood that like in the 2024 T20 World Cup, teams will have the option of playing up to two warm-up matches each depending on their arrival time for the Champions Trophy.

Saikia: ‘BCCI will follow every uniform-related ICC rule’

Saikia, meanwhile, has clarified that India will adhere to the dress code set by the ICC for the Champions Trophy, responding to media speculation that the BCCI had objected to the host nation’s name on their jersey. Player jerseys during ICC events usually include the tournament logo with the name of the tournament, host country and year below it.

“BCCI will follow every uniform-related ICC rule during Champions Trophy,” Saikia told PTI. “Whatever the other teams will do regarding the logo and dress code, we are going to follow in true letter and spirit.”

With additional reporting by Osman Samiuddin

Nagraj Gollapudi is news editor at ESPNcricinfo

Source: ESPN Crickinfo

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