[[{“value”:”
It’s been nearly eight years, but the Champions Trophy is finally back for its ninth edition. A tournament considered surplus to requirement, given the diminishing stature of the 50-over format, has been revived precisely for that reason, to give fillip to the longer limited-overs version that is under tremendous pressure to hold its own from the attritional five-day game and the slam-bang T20 variant that clearly is what excites the fans and, to a large extent, the players themselves, the most.
After much toing and froing and posturing, the tournament will be played in a hybrid model, much like the 50-over Asia Cup was in 2023, when too Pakistan were the official hosts. The Indian government’s decision to refuse permission for its team to travel across the border sparked hectic parleying and grandstanding. Eventually, after much persuasion and extracting a guarantee from the International Cricket Council that they too would be accorded similar privileges and would play their matches at a neutral venue when India host global events in future, the Pakistan Cricket Board agreed to a split-host scenario with India playing all their matches in Dubai and the non-India games to be staged in Karachi, Rawalpindi and Lahore.
Also Read: Champions Trophy 2025 | “No doubt he will be a big absence”: Dhawan on Jasprit Bumrah
What this means is that Pakistan, who kick off the competition against New Zealand in Karachi on Wednesday, will travel to Dubai to lock horns with traditional rivals India on Sunday, and must make the trip back to the Emirates in case they and India come through the draw and contest the March 9 final.
Pakistan might rue the loss of home advantage should that be the case, though it must not be forgotten that just last week, they went down to the Kiwis in the final of a triangular series where South Africa were the third team. Having mounted their first successful chase of more than 350 in ODIs, Pakistan will quietly fancy their chances but like the rest of the field, the defending champions will be aware that the side to beat will be the one they conquered eight years back in the final in Birmingham.
India perhaps missed a trick then by opting to chase, but their approach to the 50-over game has undergone a seismic shift since, best illustrated by their crushing 3-0 defeat of England in the last fortnight.
The return to run-scoring ways of India skipper Rohit Sharma was particularly encouraging because in the last two years, he has taken it upon himself to set the tone at the start of the innings. His 32nd ODI century couldn’t have been timelier, particularly given that India will have to make do without the services of Jasprit Bumrah, yet to recover fully from the back injury that laid him low in Sydney last month.
“}]]
