Champions Trophy 2025: India to play warm-up game in Dubai, PCB assures venue availability in time

India have refused to travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy 2025. As a result, the United Arab Emirates was chosen as the joint venue to host all of India’s games in the tournament. A total of eight teams will be vying for the coveted trophy. While seven other teams will be playing across three venues in Pakistan, namely Lahore, Karachi and Pakistan, India will play their matches in Dubai.    

Ahead of the tournament, the teams will indulge in practice games and there were concerns about the timely availability of stadiums in Pakistan as they were under renovation. According to Hindustan Times, the stadiums will be match-ready for the practice games and India will play their practice game in Dubai. The report further added that the ICC delegation examining the venues has not raised any major concerns over the venues. 

Also Read: Pakistan shifts ODI tri-series to Champions Trophy venues in Karachi and Lahore

It is worth noting that the Pakistan Cricket Board had set a deadline for the renovation process to be complete for the venues. The process began in August 2023 and the deadline was set for 31 December 2024. But the PCB had recently stated that by January 25 the venues will be handed over to ICC. This imminently raised concerns over the timely availability of the stadiums, and PCB has confirmed that the venues will be ready by the revised date. 

"The renovation work is on track and the stadiums will be ready before the deadline," stated PCB. 

The PCB has demonstrated confidence in providing the venues in time by moving four tri-series matches between Pakistan, New Zealand and South Africa from Multan to Karachi. The series will be held in the second week of February, whereas the Champions Trophy will kick off on February 19 with the first game between Pakistan and New Zealand in Karachi.