Chandigarh, January 16, 2025: The opening ceremony of the Champions Trophy will be held either on February 16 or 17 and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is confident that India captain Rohit Sharma will be in attendance at the event.
A PCB source also said that it is awaiting communication from the International Cricket Council (ICC) on the schedule of the customary captains’ photoshoot and the pre-event press conference.
The eight-team tournament will get underway on February 19 in Karachi. However, India will play all their matches in Dubai, starting with the clash against Bangladesh on February 20, after refusing to travel to Pakistan owing to security concerns.
The source said PCB has procured all relevant clearances from its government to promptly issue visas to all captains, players and team officials who will come here for pre-tournament events.
“This obviously includes Rohit or any other Indian team player or official or board official,” he added.
Another source confirmed that PCB has made it clear to ICC that the opening ceremony, featuring all teams and their captains, will take place in Pakistan.
“This is in line with the usual protocols and since the opening match is on 19th the opening ceremony can be expected either on the 16th or 17th,” the source added.
He said the schedule of the opening ceremony would depend on the warm-up matches list.
The source said that recently three Indian nationals, who were a part of ICC delegation which came to Pakistan, were promptly issued visas once the world body sent their names to PCB.
Summary: The Champions Trophy is set to kick off on February 16 or 17, with PCB expressing hope for Rohit Sharma’s participation in the event.