Champions Trophy 2025: Rohit Sharma will travel to Pakistan, says confident PCB source

Rohit Sharma will travel to Pakistan, says PCB source. (Photo: PTI)

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is full of hope that the Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma will be in attendance for the opening ceremony of the upcoming Champions Trophy on February 16 or 17. A PCB source confirmed to PTI that the board is confident about Rohit's arrival on the day of the opening ceremony of the tournament.

The PCB source also said that it is awaiting communication from the ICC on the schedule of the customary captains' photo-shoot and the pre-event press conference. The 8-team event will commence of February 19 in Karachi with a clash between defending champions Pakistan and New Zealand. India will play all their games of the tournament in Dubai and their campaign begins with a match against Bangladesh on February 20. India refused to travel to Pakistan owing security concerns.

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According to the source, the PCB has obtained all necessary approvals from its government to swiftly issue visas for captains, players, and team officials participating in pre-tournament events.

"This obviously includes Rohit or any other Indian team player or official or board official," he added.

Another source confirmed to PTI that the PCB has informed the ICC that the opening ceremony, featuring all teams and their captains, will be held in Pakistan.

"This is in line with the usual protocols and since the opening match is on 19th the opening ceremony can be expected either on the 16th or 17th," the source added.

He said the schedule of the opening ceremony would depend on the warm-up matches list. The source said that recently three Indian nationals, who were a part of the ICC delegation which came to Pakistan, were promptly issued visas once the world body sent their names to the PCB.

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Recently, the out of form India captain Rohit Sharma practised with the Mumbai team on Tuesday as the side geared up for the resumption of Ranji Trophy from January 23. The 37-year-old, who endured a horror run with the bat in the national team's tour of Australia recently, took part in a morning practice session at the Wankhede stadium. It remains to be seen whether Rohit plays in Mumbai's next match. He last played for Mumbai way back in 2015 against Uttar Pradesh. (With PTI inputs)