UAE’s Ambassador to India, Abdulnasser Alshaali, has stated that the UAE would be open to hosting the much-anticipated India vs Pakistan clash in case the situation of uncertainty persists for the ICC Champions Trophy. BCCI has already made it clear that the Indian team will not travel to Pakistan for the 2025 Champions Trophy. The Pakistan Cricket Board has meanwhile remained firm in its decision to hold the tournament totally in Pakistan.
India-Pakistan Matches Likely To Be Played In UAE
Sources told Geo News on Sunday that a new proposal has been introduced wherein India would play all their ICC matches originally scheduled to be in Pakistan, in Dubai. Similarly, Pakistan would be playing their matches in Dubai that were meant to take place in India. According to the sources, the above arrangement is supposed to go on for three more years, starting from 2025 Champions Trophy.
UAE Eager To Host India-Pakistan Matches
“Why wouldn’t we? We have always hosted such games. We will continue to host such games. The UAE is open for business and open for sports,” UAE Ambassador Abdulnasser Alshaali told ANI when asked if the UAE would be willing to host the India and Pakistan Champions Trophy match.
#WATCH | Delhi: UAE Ambassador to India, Abdulnasser Alshaali says, "I really want (India-UAE) to work out aviation. I really want us to find a win-win situation where we can look at both countries as having combined skies, not a single individual sky for each country. I think… pic.twitter.com/AGc3MiA7jg
— ANI (@ANI) December 2, 2024
During continued debate over how the tournament should be carried out, Ambassador Alshaali indicated that the UAE was open to hosting the high-profile India-Pakistan match.
Tensions Between India & Pakistan
Last Friday, the International Cricket Council (ICC) met with its members to decide the future of the tournament that will be held in Pakistan next year. Since political tensions has been an issue for decades, India has not visited Pakistan since 2008 for the Asia Cup. Both India and Pakistan played their last bilateral series in 2012-13 in India, consisting of white-ball matches, and since then, they have mainly met in ICC events and Asia Cups.
(With ANI Inputs)
