Champions Trophy: It's India vs Pakistan again, this time in boardroom

BCCI, PCB may collide at ICC meet in Colombo over Champions Trophy
MUMBAI: With India likely to express its inability to tour Pakistan for the Champions Trophy in February next year citing no government clearance for the tour, there could be interesting things in store at the International Cricket Council's (ICC) series of meetings from July 19-22 in Colombo.

TOI has learnt that BCCI secretary Jay Shah is travelling to Colombo on Thursday for the meetings, which will conclude with the Annual General Meeting on July 22.
While the agenda (TOI has a copy) of the AGM doesn't mention any discussion on the issue, the vexed matter is likely to be taken up by the boards of both India and Pakistan (set to be represented by Pakistan Cricket Board chief Mohsin Naqvi) in the 'any other business' category.
The Champions Trophy will be held from February 19 to March 9. As per the PCB's proposed schedule, India are supposed to play all their three league matches in Lahore (February 20 vs Bangladesh, February 23 vs New Zealand & March 1 vs Pakistan). The semifinals will be held in Karachi (March 5) and Rawalpindi (March 6) while the final will be held in Lahore on March 9.

However, if India refuse to go to Pakistan for the tournament, the ICC could be forced to mull the possibility of a hybrid model for the tournament, with India playing their matches in UAE or Sri Lanka. However, the PCB too is likely to come out with a strong response in that case.
The BCCI secretary may also attend the India vs Pakistan

Women's Asia Cup

match in Dambulla on Friday.

SKY or Hardik? Suspense continues
Meanwhile, the suspense over who would be India's next T20 captain-Hardik Pandya or Suryakumar Yadav-continued for another day, with the Indian team now likely to be picked on Thursday.

It's learnt that in an online meeting on Tuesday, new head coach

Gautam Gambhir

and the selectors discussed a few things about Indian cricket, including the need to give Surya, the world's second ranked T20 batsman, the regular T20 captaincy - as TOI had reported on Wednesday - as Hardik was prone to breakdowns.
However, no final decision was taken on the matter.