Courtesy: BCCI/ICC

Courtesy: BCCI/ICC

The International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have reportedly cancelled the planned opening ceremony and the captains photo-op for the Champions Trophy 2025, which is scheduled to begin on February 19. It is understood that there was no formal announcement made earlier about the opening ceremony by either the ICC or the PCB, and as of this writing, Pakistan haven’t denied the recent development in regards to the tournament.

As per the report from Cricbuzz, the source categorically mentioned that “the last opening ceremony with all the participating players taking part was held in Dhaka 2011. Never after.” With that, the expectation of Rohit Sharma potentially making his way to Pakistan to be a part of the captains photo-op for the ICC Champions 2025, is now off the table, despite the fact that the Indian government had already denied the cricket team to play their matches in the tournament in the neighbouring land.

The opening match of the Champions Trophy will be between the hosts Pakistan and New Zealand

Notably, there was no photo-op or press conference of the captains prior to the T20 World Cup 2024, which was held in the USA and the Caribbean last summer. The last time the captains photo-op and press conference was held for an ICC tournament in India during the ODI World Cup 2023, and it was won by Australia after defeating the hosts in a one-sided final by six wickets with 39 balls to spare at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Furthermore, as per the organisers of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, the opening ceremony and the captains photo-op isn’t possible for the tournament due to the different arrival dates of the six teams in Pakistan in the build-up. The Indian cricket team are slated to play their group stage matches in the competition against Bangladesh, Pakistan, and New Zealand at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

The opening match of the Champions Trophy will be between the hosts Pakistan and New Zealand at the National Bank Stadium in Karachi on February 19.