Hum Ache Log Hai, Indian Team Ko Zaroor Aana Chahiye: Shoaib Malik Wants India To Travel Pakistan For CT 2025 – News18

Former Pakistan men’s cricket team captain and star all-rounder Shoaib Malik wants the Indian men’s cricket team to travel to Pakistan next year for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. The 2025 edition of the Champions Trophy is scheduled to take place in Pakistan, but there are high chances that India will not travel to Pakistan for the eight-team tournament starting on February 19.

India hasn’t travelled to Pakistan since the 2008 Asia Cup due to political tensions between the two countries, and in the last 16 years, Pakistan has also come to India only four times, three of which were due to the team’s participation in ICC events (the 2016 T20 World Cup, the 2011 World Cup, and the 2023 ODI World Cup).

Amid reports that the tournament will move out of Pakistan or be played in a hybrid format due to India’s stance, Malik, who led Pakistan to the final of the 2007 T20 World Cup, has extended his invitation to the Indian cricket team by saying that Pakistan travelled to India last year and now it’s a good opportunity for Indian players to come to Pakistan. According to him, politics should be kept away from cricket.

“Whatever reservations there are between the countries, that’s a separate issue and should be solved separately. Politics shouldn’t come into sports. The Pakistan team went to India last year, and now it’s a good opportunity for the Indian team too. I think there are many players in the Indian team who haven’t played in Pakistan, so it would be great for them. Hum bahut acche log hai (we are good people). We’re very hospitable people, so I’m sure the Indian team should definitely come,” Malik was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.

Why should India go?

Former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh, who travelled to Pakistan with the Indian team multiple times during his playing days in the early 2000s, reinstated that the safety of the Indian players is of paramount importance and that there remains no obligation for the team to travel to Pakistan.

“Why should the Indian team go to Pakistan? There is a safety concern in Pakistan. The situation in Pakistan is such that incidents occur almost every day. I don’t think it’s safe (for the team) to go there. The stance of the BCCI is absolutely correct, and nothing is more important than the safety of our players. I support BCCI’s stand,” Harbhajan told IANS on Thursday.