ICC Champions Trophy: There’s a big debate going on whether the Indian Cricket Team should visit Pakistan for the upcoming Champions Trophy. While the Pakistan Cricket Team visited India for the 2023 ODI World Cup, team India played its last match in Pakistan during 2008 Asia Cup. The home side went on to win the high-scoring affair by 8 wickets.
When did India last face Pakistan in Pakistan?
As mentioned above, the Indian Cricket Team visited Pakistan back in 2008. Facing the home side in the Super 4 clash, the Men in Blue batted first and posted a big total of 308/7 in their allotted 50 overs. For India, MS Dhoni, and current Indian skipper Rohit Sharma stroked fifties with the bat.
The likes of Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and Irfan Pathan also gave handy contributions with the bat. For Pakistan, Iftikhar Anjum was the stand out bowler with three wickets to his name.
In reply, Pakistani openers gave a good start followed by a solid performance from the middle-order. Veteran Younis Khan scored a century as the home side completed the chase quite easily with more than 4 overs left in the chase. Check full scorecard: Here
Despite the loss, the Indian Cricket team reached the final match of that edition but ended up losing to Sri Lanka for summit clash.
Will India visit Pakistan for Champions Trophy?
According to multiple media reports, BCCI are unlikely to allow the Indian cricket team to travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy 2025. India have not visited the neighbouring country since participating in the Asia Cup 2008 due to strained political relations.
In case India does not travel to Pakistan next year, ICC have started mulling over conducting the tournament in a hybrid model similar to how ACC hosted the Asia Cup last year in Pakistan in Sri Lanka, according to Indian Express.