The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday confirmed a tri-series with New Zealand and South Africa which is set to be played in February 2025 in Pakistan.
The three-nation series which will begin in February next month, will serve as the preparation tournament for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, which will be hosted by Pakistan in the same year.
Newly-appointed chairman of the PCB, Mohsin Naqvi, met with the Chairman of Cricket South Africa (CSA), and Roger Twose, Chairman of New Zealand Cricket (NZC), ahead of the ICC meeting in Dubai on Friday where the main topic of discussion was the tri-series between the three nations.
This will be the first time since 2004 that Pakistan will be hosting a tri-series as the last three-nation series to be played in the country was with Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.
Naqvi expressed his gratitude about the upcoming event which will definitely be a great opportunity for Pakistan to prepare for the 2025 Champions Trophy.
“The tri-series between Pakistan, South Africa and New Zealand will be an exciting event and it is after a long time that Pakistan will host such a tournament,” Naqvi said as quoted by the PCB.
The PCB chief then went on to thank the heads of NZC and CSA for taking part in the upcoming event which will help Pakistan as it will be just months before they will host the Champions Trophy.
“The tri-series between Pakistan, South Africa and New Zealand will be an exciting event and it is after a long time that Pakistan will host such a tournament,” Naqvi added.
Remember, the PCB finalised the deal with the International Cricket Council (ICC) in December.
The event will mark the return of the ICC Champions Trophy after an eight-year gap since its last occurrence in 2017, which Pakistan won. Some Test-playing nations such as Sri Lanka and West Indies missed out on this global tournament, with Sri Lanka failing to secure a top-eight position in the ICC World Cup 2023 points table.
For the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy, a total of eight teams will participate, following the One Day International (ODI) format. The qualification process involved the top seven teams from the ICC ODI World Cup group stage, along with the host nation, Pakistan, securing their positions for this upcoming tournament.
The teams confirmed for the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy are:
Pakistan (hosts), India, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Afghanistan, England, Bangladesh