ICC begins Trophy Tour for Champions Trophy in Pakistan, POK cities dropped

Islamabad: Cities in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) found no mention in the Champions Trophy tour unveiled by the ICC on Saturday as the world body moved in swiftly to have them dropped from the host country’s itinerary following India’s strong objection.

The Trophy Tour will now comprise Karachi, Rawalpindi and Islamabad, apart from Abbottabad in the Khyber Pakhtunwala Region.

The Trophy Tour starts in Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan, and will travel to other cities of the nation — Taxila and Khanpur (November 17), Abbottabad (November 18), Murree (November 19) and Nathia Gali (November 20) before concluding in Karachi (November 22-25).

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Most of these cities are tourist attractions, Earlier, on November 14, the PCB had announced the Trophy Tour, which included cities like Skardu, Hunza and Muzaffarabad, which fall in the PoK region, a disputed territory between India and Pakistan.

The PTI reported on Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah had raised strong objections with the ICC to PCB’s Trophy Tour plans in the PoK region.

However, the global body took swift action to eliminate those cities from the tour as revealed on Saturday.

Following the Trophy Tour in Pakistan, it will tour Afghanistan (November 26-28), followed by Bangladesh (December 10-13), South Africa (December 15-22), Australia (December 25-January 5), New Zealand (January 6-11), England (January 12-14) and India (January 15-26).

The cities for the Trophy Tour outside Pakistan will be announced in due course.

“A series of physical and digital engagements traversing iconic destinations, sporting events and key battles in the international cricket calendar form the Trophy Tour schedule, during which fans will also be treated to a content series titled ‘Champion on Tour’ that will document the Trophy Tour’s journey around the world through the lens of food, music and cricket,” ICC said in a release.

Pakistan is the defending champion of the event, having won the title at The Oval in London in 2017, defeating India in the final.

As for this edition, India has reportedly denied travelling to Pakistan for the tournament, and the ICC is working with PCB to find a possible solution to it, including hosting it in a hybrid model or shifting the competition out of Pakistan, possibly the United Arab Emirates (UAE) or South Africa.

Sources in the PCB yesterday said the trophy tour was planned in consultation and with the approval of the ICC and it was not a unilateral decision of the PCB.

 “If they had issues they should have notified the PCB immediately before announcing the trophy tour. Anyways the PCB as hosts and commercial partners of the ICC is cooperating as always with them,” another source said.

The trophy would now be taken to Islamabad, Taxila, Abbottabad, Murree, Nathiagali and Karachi with the trophy tour ending on November 22.