ICC was pressured into awarding Pakistan Champions Trophy hosting rights, says Ramiz.

KARACHI -- The 2025 Champions Trophy hosting rights being awarded to Pakistan came as a result of pressure on the International Cricket Council (ICC) , Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja has claimed.

New Zealand's unilateral decision to abruptly abort their Pakistan tour and England's last minute pull-out from their scheduled visit in September last year triggered criticism from the then newly-appointed Ramiz.

By the end of the year, the ICC announced Pakistan as the hosts for the 2025 Champions Trophy and New Zealand and England agreed for tours late in 2022 and 2023 following talks between their boards and PCB.

'The ICC was under pressure when New Zealand and England cancelled their tours,' Ramiz said during a press conference at the National Stadium here on Wednesday.

'And when the pressure was created then we got the Champions Trophy, which means the ICC recognised that Pakistan was treated wrongly.'

Last month, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) reportedly agreed to pay the PCB an undisclosed amount as compensation for abandoning the series and the Black Caps are scheduled to visit Pakistan for two Tests in December this year and five One-day Internationals and as many T20s in April 2023.

England will visit for seven T20s in September while Pakistan have also been invited by the NZC for a tri-nation T20 tournament involving Bangladesh in October.

Ramiz said the high number of matches for the team's scheduled tours were also a part of the compensation. The PCB chief, though, said the board enjoyed good relationships with the England and Wales Cricket Board and NZC, as well as the ICC.

'Our relations with the ICC are good but from a commercial point of view, we feel we deserve more and I'm going raise this issue in [the meeting] in July and I'll ask them to increase our return,' he said.

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