The global tour for the ICC Men's Champions Trophy kicked off in Islamabad on Saturday. The trophy started its journey from Faisal Mosque and traveled to the Pakistan Monument in Islamabad, accompanied by Pakistan cricket icon Shoaib Akhtar.

“BCCI secretary Shah has objected to the PCB’s idea to hold a Champions Trophy tour in PoK. The BCCI has no problem if the tour is conducted in any other city of Pakistan or even in a stadium outside PoK or in a mall. But they cannot hold it in PoK,” a BCCI official was quoted as saying by IE.

Pakistan have decided against taking the Champions Trophy on tour across PoK regions, but said that the plan was approved by the ICC and they did not decide anything unilaterally, a media report claimed.

Pakistan are the defending champions, having won the previous edition of the ICC Champions Trophy in England and Wales in 2017. The change in itinerary has come after Pakistan wanted to take the trophy for a tour to PoK.

The schedule for the tournament has also been put on hold and the latest controversy could only make things complex and worse

According to PCB, the tour is scheduled to start from November 16 but it wasn't clear at the time of writing whether it will now go ahead on that day

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has strongly criticized the Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) plan to take the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The BCCI secretary,