Pakistan’s former cricketer Basit Ali raises concern over security for the Champions Trophy hosted in Pakistan next year. Before the Champions Trophy 2025, Pakistan occupies themselves in 2024-24 with a Test series at home against England, West Indies, and Bangladesh.
The ninth edition of Champions Trophy will be soon on the floor from five months now. The defending champions are all set to host the prestigious ICC event starting February 19th to March 9th, 2025. England and Wales hosted the last season of the Champions Trophy, where Pakistan emerged as the winners. Pakistan thrashed India in the 2017 Champions Trophy finale to clinch their first-ever trophy in the tournament since 1998.
”The foreign teams should get the same security as our Prime Minister and President”: Basit Ali
Pakistan will host an ICC event after a long wait of 29 years. Pakistan’s last ICC event was in 1996 when they hosted the ODI World Cup alongside India and Sri Lanka. Former cricketer Basit Ali wants Pakistan to keep its security uptight, avoiding any mishap.
The 53-year-old mentioned the upcoming tours scheduled for 2024-25 against England, West Indies, and Bangladesh and demanded no breach of security. The former cricketer is worried about violations regarding safety in the above-mentioned tours that could prevent Pakistan from hosting the Champions Trophy 2025. In addition, Basit Ali advised the same security to foreign teams as that of the Prime Minister and President. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Basit Ali said,
“Since the Champions Trophy is in Pakistan, and teams like England and West Indies are scheduled to tour after Bangladesh, we must pay attention to security. God forbid, the Champions Trophy won’t be played here if there is any incident in these tours. Our soldiers are getting martyred in Balochistan and Peshawar. Only the government can answer why it has been happening, but it’s wrong.” Basit Ali further added that,
“We must ensure that there is not even a small security breach. The foreign teams should get the same security as our Prime Minister and President. I am sure Mohsin Naqvi will be aware of these things.”
Champions Trophy 2017
Talking of the last season of the Champions Trophy held in England and Wales, Pakistan swept away the title from India in the finale. Pakistan set a mount target of 338 runs, losing four wickets. Fakhar Zaman’s outstanding century on the result day tied up India’s hope to lift the trophy against their arch-rivals. While Fakhar Zaman smashed 114 runs his bat on 106 balls, Azhar Ali(59 off 71) and Mohammad Hafeez(57 off 37) contributed with half-centuries, pushing the target to 338.
In reply, India’s batting lineup surrendered in front of the Pakistani bowlers. Mohammed Amir and Hasan Ali grabbed three wickets each. In addition, Shadab Khan seized two wickets. Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya was the only one to score a half-century (76 off 43 balls), but couldn’t make a difference. Therefore, Pakistan won their first-ever Champions Trophy by a margin of 180 runs, defeating India.