Champions Trophy: Govt will decide on India's travel to Pakistan, says BCCI

Reiterating a long-held position, BCCI vice president Rajeev Shukla on Monday said a decision on whether the national cricket team will travel to Pakistan for next year's ICC Champions Trophy will depend on government approval.

Pakistan are scheduled to host the prestigious ODI tournament from February 19 to March 9.

“No decision has been taken (yet). But our policy is that for international tours, we always seek the permission of the government. It's up to the government to decide whether our team should go to any country or our team should not go to any country,” Shukla told reporters here.

“In this case (also), whatever the government will decide, we will abide by that,” he added.

Shukla was talking to the media on the sidelines of the ongoing second Test between India and Bangladesh here.

India and Pakistan only play each other in ICC events. India have not travelled to Pakistan for bilateral cricket since 2008 following the Mumbai terror attacks in which over 150 people were killed.

Pakistan were in India for the ODI World Cup last year after a gap of seven years. It is being speculated that India will not travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy.

The BCCI may request the ICC to pull the tournament out of Pakistan and organise it either in Sri Lanka or Dubai.

The latest edition of the Asia Cup was played as per a hybrid model allowing India to play all their matches in Sri Lanka. As a result, the island nation hosted nine games while Pakistan hosted the remaining four matches.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is averse to the idea of taking the tournament out of their country.

Recently, Pakistan all-rounder Hasal Ali had also said that if India do not travel to Pakistan, the tournament should go ahead without their Asian neighbours.

The ICC, on its part, has maintained that it would not force a member board to go against government policy.