Amid Uncertainty Over India's Participation ICC Allocates Huge Budget To Pakistan To Host CT 2025

The ICC has approved a budget of around USD 70 million for hosting the Champions Trophy in Pakistan early next year. A source familiar with the ICC disclosed on Thursday that the world body's financial and commercial committee, chaired by BCCI secretary Jay Shah, had reviewed and approved the budget. This budget was prepared and jointly submitted by the Pakistan Cricket Board and the ICC finance department.

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ICC Allocates Huge Sum To Pakistan To Host Champions Trophy

"The approximate budget is around USD 70 million and only USD 4.5 million has been allocated as additional expenses," the source said.

The recent approval of the total budget and extra expenses by the ICC has sparked speculation that the reserve funds are intended for situations where India might refuse to send its team to Pakistan, necessitating the relocation of some matches. According to the source, the additional USD 4.5 million is considered insufficient relative to the overall budget for covering the costs of relocating matches from Pakistan.

Jay Shah, who also leads the Asian Cricket Council, presided over the recent decision to allocate the T20 format Asia Cup in 2025 to India and the 50-over format Asia Cup in 2027 to Bangladesh.

The source mentioned that under the provisional format for next year's Asia Cup, India and Pakistan are grouped together and could potentially face each other again in the tournament's Super Four stage.

"A third match could happen if they qualify for the final," he said. The source revealed that, despite the confusion, late venue changes, and additional expenses during the tournament, the ACC still managed to make a profit from the 2023 Asia Cup held in Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

"The profits came because of the India and Pakistan games."