International Cricket Council (ICC) has asked the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to cancel the Champions Trophy tour to PoK regions. PCB had stated on Thursday (November 14) that the trophy will be visiting Skardu, Hunza, Murree and Muzaffarabad. According to a report, the BCCI objected to the PCB's plan and then the ICC asked the Pakistan board to cancel its trophy tour in the said cities. According to sources, even the BCCI Secretary Jay Shah condemned PCB's move to take the trophy to PoK.
"The BCCI secretary, after it came to his notice, called up the ICC and was extremely critical of PCB's move to conduct a Trophy tour of multiple cities which fall under Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. He has urged the ICC to take strong action. As far as Islamabad is concerned, there is no issue but there can't be any Trophy tour to POK," a senior BCCI official privy to the development told PTI.
The trophy tour is set to happen from November 16 to 24 and the trophy arrived in Islamabad on November 14 (Thursday). However, with ICC cancelling the trophy tour to PoK regions, the PCB will now have to chart out a new plan. Notably, the tour will not happen in three cities that are planned to host the matches of the Champions Trophy.
Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi - These three venues will be hosting the games. However, the trophy will be sidestepping these cities due to the prevailing smog. It remains to be seen if PCB now makes any changes to their earlier plan of not taking the trophy to these venues.
For the unversed, there has been no key development ever since the PCB reportedly asked the ICC to get an explanation from the BCCI for refusing to tour Pakistan. Several reports have stated that the hybrid model is likely for the Champions Trophy with India playing its matches in the UAE or Sri Lanka. However, there is no confirmation for this yet from the ICC.
Interestingly, ICC was set to announce the schedule of the competition on November 11 by setting the 100-day countdown. But with India's refusal to travel to Pakistan, things have got delayed yet again.
