ICC Champions Trophy semi-final and final to be moved out of Pakistan: Report

The future of the ICC Champions Trophy hangs within the balance and new updates keep on coming everyday. The ICC event that was earlier set to be hosted by only Pakistan has been the source of massive controversy as of late.

The controversy started when BCCI informed the ICC that they won’t let the Indian team travel to Pakistan in order to participate in the tournament. This has created a fuss between both BCCI and PCB, who have clarified their stance on the tournament, stating that they want to hold every match of the tournament in Pakistan only.

As per the reports in Indian Express, it is learned that during the virtual meeting of the ICC, a hybrid model was proposed to the PCB for the tournament. According to the reports, the ICC have decided that the semi-final and final of the tournament will be played in a neutral venue.

The ICC have reportedly panned out 2 plans for the tournament. The first one is that out of the 15 matches, 3 of India’s group matches, including the one against Pakistan, one semi-final, and the final will be played in a neutral venue, which most likely will be UAE. The second plan states that if India doesn’t qualify for the knockouts, then both the semi-final and final will be played in Pakistan.

The reports claimed that there will be voting as well related to the hybrid model for the Champions Trophy. If the model gets majority backing, then it will be up to the PCB to accept it or not. There is also a possibility that the ICC will finalize UAE as a venue as it will decrease the travel time for teams to travel between matches from Pakistan.

The global cricket body is also expected to announce the schedule of the tournament soon which is set to take place next year in February and March.

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