PK Press Club has seen a resolution containing details of the deal, which was voted on by the ICC board. In the agreement, during the 2024-2027 event cycle, all matches involving India in an organized event in Pakistan will be played at a neutral venue, and in return, all matches involving Pakistan in an organized event by India will be played at a neutral venue. . In both cases, all matches include knockout matches such as the semi-finals and the final.
The agreement begins with the 2025 Men’s Champions Trophy in Pakistan and will apply to the 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup in India and the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup, co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka. The latest event offers a simple solution with Sri Lanka as co-hosts, but it would mean that any match that India and Pakistan are drawn to – a group match or a knockout match – will take place in Sri Lanka. This could also apply to the 2028 Women’s T20 World Cup, the first tournament of the next cycle of events and which has now been awarded to Pakistan.
The choice of neutral venue will be made by the tournament host and must be approved by the ICC. In the case of the Champions Trophy, the PCB must propose a neutral venue within 24 hours of voting on the resolution. The United Arab Emirates were the favorites, although Sri Lanka was also mentioned. The PCB will retain all hosting rights to the event.
The resolution also refers to the possibility of a triangular or quadrangular T20I tournament, involving India, Pakistan and one other full member of Asia (and an associated Asian nation if it is a tournament quadrangular). This is believed to be one of the points put forward by the CCP in its negotiations during the impasse, although the ICC has only stated that it would not oppose the organization of such an event and that neutral arrangements similar to those of the event would apply. the ICC event model. The resolution also states that no ICC director will make any public announcement on the three series, which will be the sole responsibility of the BCCI and PCB.
This triggered a period of intense negotiations between the PCB, BCCI and ICC, complicated by poor political relations between the two countries. The governments of both countries participated in the final approval of the agreement, but were also present throughout the process; Mohsin Naqvi, Chairman of the CCP, is the Interior Minister of the Pakistani government. Jay Shah, who was BCCI secretary until December 1 when he took over as ICC president, is the son of Indian Home Minister Amit Shah. The CCP had initially insisted that it would not adopt a hybrid model for the event, but then began pushing for any solution to be fairer and fairer in the long term. In this sense, they will be happy to have reached an agreement on not playing matches in India in the next two ICC events in the country.
