The ICC Champions Trophy, after its last edition in England in 2017, will be played from February 19 to March 9, 2025, at three venues in Pakistan and one the United Arab Emirates, will not have an opening ceremony. According to the report from Pakistani media house Geo Super on Thursday(I.e, January 30), plans for staging an opening ceremony had to be scrapped owing to the late arrival of the England and Australian cricket teams in Pakistan.
“The upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025 will kick off without any opening ceremony owing to the late arrival of the two participating teams. Consequently, it’ll also cancel the traditional pre-tournament events of the press conference, involving all eight captains, and the official photoshoot in Karachi,” the report noted.
Now it has been said that English team coming to India for a three-match ODI series preceding the ICC Champions Trophy will reach Lahore on February 18 while the Australian team, presently in Sri Lanka for a two-match Test series and two-match ODI series, will arrive in Pakistan on February 19.
Political tensions remain between India and Pakistan, and Bangladesh won’t be traveling to Pakistan before February 21 to participate in these matches, which instead are scheduled to take place in Dubai. Bangladesh’s first match of the ICC Champions Trophy is slated for February 20 against India at the Dubai International Stadium.
Afghanistan is not expected to be in Islamabad before February 12, while the two teams, South Africa and New Zealand, are already in Pakistan by the first week of February as they are also set to participate in the tri-series from February 8 to 14.
The report comments that “England will take a seven-day break after the completion of their long Indian tour, which finishes with a white-ball series on February 12.” Australia has decided on a four-day rest period after finishing the Sri Lanka tour on February 14 before coming to Pakistan.
“Both England and Australia have skipped their due warm-up matches as they were late in arriving,” the report goes on to say.
The official report quoted an ICC official: “ICC and PCB have also shown interest in holding an opening ceremony, but the timetable for England and Australia coupled with player workload management made it unfeasible. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) further clarified that there was an internal discussion for an opening ceremony, and a discussion was held with the ICC, but officially no confirmation or announcement was ever made.
No opening event is planned anymore, but the PCB is expected to welcome guests at a special function before the Pak-New Zealand match on February 19 at the National Stadium in Karachi.
