Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on March 15 announced that it will host South Africa and New Zealand in the ODI tri-series which will be held in February 2025. This will be Pakistan's first tournament featuring three nations after a long gap of two decades.
The tri-series was announced after newly-appointed PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi met with Cricket South Africa (CSA) and New Zealand Cricket (NZC) chairmans Lawson Naidoo and Roger Twose respectively on the sidelines of the International Cricket Council (ICC) meeting in Dubai.
While international cricket returned to Pakistan in 2020, 11 years after the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore, the last tri-series on Pakistan soil featured Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. Also, the last time Pakistan were a part of a tri-nation tournament was in 2008 which was hosted by Bangladesh and also featured India. Pakistan won the tournament after beating India in the final.
"The Tri-series between Pakistan, South Africa and New Zealand will be an exciting event and it is after a long time that Pakistan will host such a tournament. I would like to thank the heads of NZC and CSA for agreeing to participate in the Tri-series. The PCB is also looking forward to hosting the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 which will be a great pleasure for Pakistan to host the top eight ODI teams on its soil," PCB chief Naqvi said.
Pakistan are scheduled to host the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in February and March. They are also the defending champions of the tournament. In 2017, Sarfaraz Ahmed-led side beat India in the final comprehensively to lift the trophy.
PCB anxious over India’s participation in Champions Trophy
Meanwhile, there were reports that Naqvi wants a confirmation regarding India’s participation in the mega event soon. They don’t want a repeat of Asia Cup 2023 when PCB adopted a hybrid model and ended up hosting just four matches.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has refrained from commenting on touring Pakistan saying that the decision lies with the government due to political tensions between the two countries.
Massive clash a few months away
However, before Champions Trophy 2025, India will take on Pakistan in ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 on June 9 in New York.
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