Will Rohit visit Pakistan for captains' meet for Champions Trophy 2025?

The ninth edition of the ICC Champions Trophy is all set to commence on February 19 in Karachi, and the ICC is preparing to host the traditional captains' meet ahead of the tournament. The venue of this event is likely to be Karachi, where the first match is scheduled to take place. However, a hot topic of discussion once again is whether the Indian skipper Rohit Sharma will travel to Pakistan for the captains' meet or not, as the Indian government denied clearance for the players to travel to Pakistan. This forced the ICC and PCB to hold the tournament in a hybrid model, making it very unlikely that they will allow their skipper to travel to Pakistan for the same.

 

What is the ICC's captains' meet?

 

The ICC captains' meet, held before ICC events, features all participating captains in a photoshoot and press conference to discuss tournament expectations. For the 2025 Champions Trophy, captains from all eight participating nations will attend this event organised by the ICC.

 

Rohit to create history 

If the Indian skipper Rohit Sharma fails to get clearance to travel to Pakistan once again, he will become the only captain in ICC tournament history to skip a captains' meet for any ICC event. However, there is still a small chance that the BCCI might book Rohit Sharma’s ticket for the meet, as he will only need to be there for a few hours. Looking after the security details of one player for one day can be less tricky than maintaining it for an entire team for 19 days. 

 

Can the venue be shifted?

 

One alternative the ICC can consider if Rohit is unable to travel to Pakistan is to shift the meet venue to Dubai, where India is scheduled to play all their matches. Dubai can provide easy access for the skippers of all other seven participating teams.