PAK Star Proposes A Stadium At Border For Indo-Pak Champions Trophy

Rajgeeta Yadav

Pakistan Star Takes A Dig At BCCI [Source: @lokeshgarg_94/X.com]Pakistan Star Takes A Dig At BCCI [Source: @lokeshgarg_94/X.com]

The ICC tournaments are some of the biggest cricketing events worldwide. The Champions Trophy, featuring the top eight ODI teams, is one of them. The 2025 edition of the tournament will be co-hosted by Pakistan and Dubai. Initially, Pakistan had the exclusive hosting rights, but political tensions led to a compromise. Due to India's refusal to travel to Pakistan, the ICC decided to implement a hybrid hosting model.

Before this decision was finalised, former Pakistani cricketer Ahmed Shehzad came up with a rather unusual idea. Speaking on Nadir Ali’s podcast, Shehzad suggested building a stadium on the India-Pakistan border, with gates on each side allowing players to enter from their respective countries.

 "Build a stadium on the border. One gate should open in India, the other in Pakistan. Their players can come from there, our players can go from here. But again, I think BCCI or the Indian government will have an issue. They'll say that when your player comes to the field on our side, we'll not give him a visa for that," Shehzad said. 

The Champions Trophy 2025 was a point of contention between the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for months. PCB was originally granted exclusive hosting rights, but the BCCI declined to send the Indian team to Pakistan, citing safety concerns. After long negotiations, the ICC announced the hybrid model as a compromise.

Shehzad Expresses Disappointment Over Pakistan Not Hosting India

Reflecting on the decision, Shehzad expressed disappointment, saying Pakistan missed a golden opportunity to host India. 

"Pakistan had a golden chance to host India. All cricket boards had signed the agreement in 2021 that Pakistan will host the Champions Trophy. ICC cannot back off. PCB has missed the chance I think. We should forget that the Indian team will ever come to Pakistan now. Just forget it. The only way you could have brought India here was by an ICC event," he added. 

India and Pakistan have not played bilateral cricket since 2013 due to ongoing political tensions. While Pakistan has traveled to India for ICC events like the T20 World Cup 2016 and the ODI World Cup 2023, India has not visited Pakistan since 2008.