The venue change follows weeks of rows after India refused to allow ICC tournament hosts Pakistan to visit their matches.
India will play its Champions Trophy games in the United Arab Emirates next year after hosts Pakistan chose the Gulf country as a neutral venue for their rivals, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said.
Due to poor political relations, the Indian team has not visited Pakistan since 2008 and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), citing government advice, has decided not to send its team to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy.
The two countries only play each other in multi-team tournaments, with Pakistan visiting India for the ICC Over-50 World Cup last year.
“The Pakistan Cricket Board has selected the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the neutral venue,” PCB spokesman Amir Mir said via email on Sunday.
The eight-team Champions Trophy will be played in February and March next year.
The International Cricket Council said last week that matches between India and Pakistan in tournaments it organizes in either country would be played at neutral venues.
The agreement covers the men’s Champions Trophy in Pakistan and the women’s One-Day International (ODI) World Cup in India next year.
This also applies to the Men’s Twenty20 World Cup in 2026, which India will co-host with Sri Lanka, and the Women’s T20 World Cup in 2028 in Pakistan.
The Champions Trophy will be the first ICC event hosted by Pakistan since the country hosted the World Cup in 1996 along with India and Sri Lanka.
