Sunil Gavaskar Embarrasses PCB; Exposes Pakistan’s Security In Champions Trophy 2025

The former Indian captain and the opening batter, Sunil Gavaskar, has criticized the security arrangements of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for the Champions Trophy 2025. India is playing all of their games at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium and will continue to do so even in the semifinal or a potential final.

The move came after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) made it clear that they won’t be traveling to Pakistan for political relationships. PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi wasn’t prepared to accept the hybrid model at the initial stage but accepted it after the ICC confirmed that none of these two sides would host each other.

Sunil Gavaskar highlights security lapse in Champions Trophy 2025

Many former players and current members of the event have questioned India’s unfair advantage of knowing the conditions from the beginning of the tournament at the Dubai ground. But Sunil Gavaskar has pointed out the lapse in security that took place in Pakistan during the eight-team tournament.

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During the group B clash at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore between England and South Africa, a fan managed to breach the security to meet the Hashmatullah Shahidi-led side players. Even New Zealand’s left-arm spin all-rounder, Rachin Ravindra, also had to face such an incident against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi.

“Even in this tournament, we say that people were able to breach security and run onto the ground while the match was going on. I think it happened during the Afghanistan game. When you see such incidents, it is almost impossible for any government to permit the Indian team to travel to Pakistan.” Sunil Gavaskar expressed this during a recent interaction on Sports Today.

Sunil Gavaskar rules out the possibility of the India vs Pakistan bilateral series

Earlier, during a chat show in the presence of the former pacers of the Pakistan side, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, the host of the program asked the World Cup-winning member of the Indian side whether there is any chance of resuming the bilateral cricket between India and Pakistan.

The veteran has ruled out such possibilities and reckoned it could only occur if there is peace at the Indo-Pak border.

“It's very simple. If there's peace at the borders, then I think both governments will certainly say, 'Look, okay, we've had no incidents, nothing at all. So let's at least start talking.” Sunil Gavaskar addressed this during the show.

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“I'm pretty certain there will be some back-channel connections going on. But you want to see what's happening both on the ground and off the ground because there are incursions we hear about. That's the reason why the Indian government is saying, 'Look, maybe until all that stops, we should not even look at having or talking about anything'.” Sunil Gavaskar concluded.

Pakistan makes early exit from Champions Trophy 2025

The Green Brigade was in tremendous form in the 50-over format last year, with three successive ODI series victories in Australia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. But they didn’t perform well at home in the tri-series against New Zealand and South Africa.

Pakistan continued the poor performance against the Kiwis in the Champions Trophy 2025, as they failed to chase down 321 runs in Karachi, besides failing to put in a challenging total against India in their second do-or-die encounter. It took them less than a week before getting knocked out of the home global tournament after 29 years. The Green Brigade’s next bilateral series is in New Zealand.