Indian government will decide if India will travel to Pakistan for Champions Trophy, says Rajeev Shukla

With there being a cloud of uncertainty regarding India's participation in the Champions Trophy 2025 to be held in Pakistan for quite some months now, the vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Rajeev Shukla, has opened up on the issue by providing some clarity on the same.

When asked whether India would be traveling to Pakistan next year, Shukla opened up that the final call to be taken would be from the Indian government's side.

“No decision has been taken on it. But our policy is that for international tours, we always seek permission from the government. It’s up to the government to decide whether or not our team should go to any country. Whatever the government will decide, we will abide by that,” stated Shukla, as quoted by The Indian Express.

He also added that there has been no deadline given to the BCCI by the International Cricket Council to make up their mind.

Also Read: PCB urges ICC to finalise schedule for Champions Trophy 2025

Shukla sheds light on mega-auction for IPL 2025

Further, the ex-chairperson of the Indian Premier League, also offered semi-concrete insights on the mega-auction of the 18th edition of the cash-rich league. 

“We are finalising the venue, most probably the IPL auction will take place towards the end of November. All the options are open for hosting the auction, whether in India or abroad. Last time it happened in Dubai. People abroad enjoy such events a lot more,” added Shukla.

Speaking on the cricketing situation of India and Pakistan, the two sides have only met during global events of late. In fact, the last time India toured their arch-rivals was before the treacherous 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. It was only last year that Pakistan traveled to India for the 50-over World Cup, that too after a long period of seven years.

Also Read: IPL 2025: How RTM works and how many RTMs can be taken - Rules Explained

Recently, plenty of former cricketers have spoken on the issue in which the main essence of their opinion has been to not mix politics with sports.