While the International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced a list of match officials for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025, Indian umpire Nitin Menon has made himself unavailable for this tournament.

Pakistan is set to host the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, in which eight teams will participate. As India will not travel to Pakistan, all the Indian matches will be played in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The tournament will run between February 19 and March 9, 2025.

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Nitin Menon reportedly refused to travel to Pakistan

The 41-year-old Indian umpire Nitin Menon has cited personal reasons to make himself unavailable for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. According to the Times of India report, the source claimed that Nitin couldn’t officiate Indian matches in the UAE, which meant that he had to officiate the matches in Pakistan, which was the reason for withdrawing his name from the tournament. 

Nitin Menon is one of the respected umpires in the present international cricket. During the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, he was the youngest umpire in the tournament. He was also present as the match official in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021, 2022, and 2024. Previously, he also officiated in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2018 and 2020.

Nitin has already officiated in 40 Tests, 75 ODIs, and 75 T20Is, along with 13 WT20Is. During the recently concluded five-match T20I series between the hosts India and the visitors England, Nitin officiated in three games, twice as the on-field umpire and the other one as TV umpire.

ICC Champions Trophy 2025: India will start with their Group A match against Bangladesh

India will start their journey in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 from Group A along with Pakistan, New Zealand, and Bangladesh. In Group B, Australia, England, South Africa, and Afghanistan will challenge each other. At the end of the group stage, the top two teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals. 

In the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, India will play their first match against Bangladesh on February 20. The two-time Champions Trophy winners India (including once as the joint winners with the hosts Sri Lanka in 2002) reached the finals of the last two editions of the tournament, won in 2013 and lost in 2017.