Will Rohit Sharma visit Pakistan for Champions Trophy captain’s event?

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Ahead of next month’s ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan and the UAE, doubts have emerged regarding Indian captain Rohit Sharma’s participation in the tournament’s pre-event captains’ meeting.

According to Cricinfo, it remains undecided whether Sharma will travel to Pakistan for the event before the tournament's official start.

The Captains’ event is traditionally held in the host country before any ICC tournament, bringing together the captains of all participating teams.

This year, the event is scheduled to take place in Karachi on February 16 or 17, but the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has not yet confirmed its stance on Sharma’s attendance.

BCCI's newly-appointed Secretary, Devjeet Saikia, told Cricinfo that a decision on whether Sharma will travel to Pakistan has not been made, and it has not yet been added to the agenda.

It also remains unclear whether the BCCI would need permission from the Indian government to send Sharma to Pakistan.

There has been no recent example of an Indian player visiting Pakistan officially, but BCCI officials did make a trip in 2023.

Roger Binny and Rajiv Shukla, the BCCI president and vice-president, were invited to Lahore for an official dinner by the PCB during the Asia Cup, marking a rare instance of high-level Indian officials visiting Pakistan.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has formally requested the ICC to ensure that all participating teams and their captains take part in the usual pre-tournament events, including the photoshoot and opening ceremony for the Champions Trophy.

The ICC is currently working out the logistics and travel schedules for the teams.

Notably, ahead of the 2024 Men's T20 World Cup, which was co-hosted by the West Indies and the USA, the ICC opted for a non-traditional approach and skipped the usual captains’ event.

Instead, they launched the tournament with a lighting projection of all 20 team captains on the Rockefeller Center in New York City.

For the upcoming Champions Trophy, teams are expected to be given the option of playing two warm-up matches, depending on when they arrive for the tournament.

The 2025 ICC Champions Trophy will begin on February 19, with matches in three Pakistani cities—Lahore, Karachi, and Rawalpindi—and Dubai in the UAE.

India's group-stage games will all be played in Dubai. A semi-final is also scheduled in Dubai, and should India reach the final, it will be played there instead of Lahore.

Due to ongoing political tensions, India and Pakistan have not played any bilateral series since 2012. The last time India toured Pakistan was in the 2008 Asia Cup.