With increasing speculation that Team India will not travel to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, Former Pakistan cricketer Shahid Afridi has now urged Virat Kohli and Team India to come to the country stating that sports should be kept away from politics. Afridi also spoke on Virat Kohli’s huge fan following in the country and claimed that “he will forget the love he has for India when he comes to Pakistan.”

While speaking to News24 Sports, Afridi said, “I will welcome Team India. Even when Pakistan used to tour, we received a lot of respect and love from India, and when India came in 2005, all their players enjoyed.”

He added, “Sports should be kept away from politics. There is nothing better than politics than both teams playing cricket against each other. Indians coming in to Pakistan, Pakistanis going to India, what can be more beautiful than that.”

Speaking on Kohli’s fan following in Pakistan, Afridi told News24, “If Virat Kohli comes to Pakistan, he’ll forget the love and hospitality of India. He has his own class. There is a lot of craze in Pakistan. People like him a lot in Pakistan. He is my favourite player.”

Afridi also spoke on Kohli’s retirement from T20Is cricket and said, “He shouldn’t have quit T20Is because the format looked beautiful with him in it. Why can’t he play? He is fit; he is in form.”

The ICC Champions Trophy will be held in Pakistan between February and March 2025. Due to strained political relations, India has not played cricket in Pakistan since the 2008 Asia Cup.

Meanwhile, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has planned to request the International Cricket Council (ICC) to relocate their matches to either Sri Lanka or Dubai, newswire ANI reported, quoting BCCI sources.

The Pakistan Cricket Board proposed that India play all its matches in Lahore. However, the BCCI is not interested in travelling to Pakistan. Earlier in May, BCCI Vice-President Rajeev Shukla said that the Indian team would visit Pakistan for the tournament only if the Central government allowed it.

“In the case of the Champions Trophy, we will do whatever the Government of India tells us to do. We will send our team only when the Government of India permits. So we will go according to the decision of the Indian government,” Shukla told ANI.

(With inputs from ANI)