The big question is whether India will travel for the tournament. That will be held in Pakistan since the 1996 ODI World Cup.
Lahore, Karachi, and Rawalpindi are the three venues proposed by the PCB in the initial draft schedule of the 2025 Champions Trophy. They sent recently to the ICC. The tournament is scheduled for mid-February as the PCB rushes to improve venues. These venues will hold the first ICC event in Pakistan in almost 30 years.
Pakistan are defending champions having won what was thought to be the last edition of the Champions Trophy in 2017. But, in 2022, the ICC brought back the tournament in the new rights cycle (2023-27). And it also awarded the hosting rights of the 2025 edition to Pakistan.
ICC Champions Trophy Venue Preparation By PCB
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The eight-team tournament is expected to be played over two weeks, though the exact dates are not known yet. The PCB finalized the venues and the schedule after an ICC sent a team to conduct recces.
“We’ve sent the schedule for the matches in Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi said at a press conference in Lahore.
“The ICC’s security team came and we had a very good meeting. They looked at arrangements here and we’ll also share stadium upgrade plans with them. We’re continuously in touch with the ICC. We are trying to ensure we host a very good tournament in Pakistan.”
Normally, once the host board sends in the draft schedule, it undergoes various iterations which are done by various teams within the ICC, which then share it with the broadcaster and the other boards before the schedule is finalized. The next official ICC meeting is the global body’s annual conference in July.
Ultimately, however, the fate of India’s games will hinge on the political climate between the two countries and whether or not the Indian government grants permission to the BCCI to let its team travel to Pakistan.
Challenges and Plans for Stadium Upgrades
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No doubt, the Champions Trophy will be the centrepiece of a busy home season for Pakistan. They are also hosting South Africa and New Zealand for an ODI tri-series right before the ICC event (and start the home season this year with visits by Bangladesh and England).
There will also be the challenge, as PCB acknowledged, of improving the stadiums in the three cities, stadiums that have not had serious upgrades for many years now.
“If you look at Gaddafi [stadium in Lahore], it is good, but the viewing experience is not great for cricket. Football maybe, not cricket,” PCB said. “We need to improve facilities in the stadiums, where there are some old problems. [The National Stadium in] Karachi is in bad shape.
So on May 7th, we’ll finalize bids from international companies who will come and help us design. We will work with local consultants as well. We are already late but we need to do these upgrades in four to five months. It will be a very tough test but we can do it.”
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About the Author
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