With speculation rife that India will play the Champions Trophy in 2025, all indications are that the men in blue might finally travel to Pakistan for the mega event. Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has urged the same from Team India and Virat Kohli to be a part of this mega event. Though the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has not issued any official press release regarding this development, it is understood that the Indian cricket body is to request the International Cricket Council (ICC) accordingly to schedule the event in a hybrid model.
For starters, India has not toured Pakistan for any cricketing assignment since the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai that had involuntarily put palpable strain on the diplomatic relations between the two neighbors. India’s last cricket tour to Pakistan was in the year 2008 for the Asia Cup; the last bilateral cricket series between the two countries in Pakistan was in 2006.
Talking about his further aspirations, he mentioned that both Indian and Pakistani cricket teams have enjoyed the love of their fans in either’s country in the past and called out for politics to be kept out from sports. Virat Kohli has a big fan following in Pakistan, he said.
Since making his debut in August, Kohli hasn’t visited Pakistan to play international cricket for the last few years. The former Indian captain has a fantastic record in ODIs and T20Is against Pakistan but never featured in a Test match against them.
The last bilateral series of India vs Pakistan in India took place in 2012-13 and consisted of 2 T20Is and 3 ODIs.
