The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has proposed three venues for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 to ICC. These three venues are – Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi. The PCB in their initial planning has decided to host the tournament during February and the tournament is expected to last for 2 weeks.
The primary objective for PCB is to upgrade the stadiums to their very best. This would be the first time in nearly 3 decades that Pakistan would be hosting an ICC event.
“We’ve sent the schedule for the matches in Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy. 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,” said PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi.
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Will India Travel to Pakistan?
The biggest conundrum for Pakistan is India traveling to their neighbours. As per the initial proposal sent to ICC, PCB has placed all of India’s matches in Pakistan. However, it is highly unlikely that the Men in Blue will travel to Pakistan. India’s travel depends on obtaining permission from the Central Government.
Earlier, in the Asia Cup 2023, India decided not to travel to Pakistan. Instead the tournament took place in a hybrid model where all of India’s matches including the finals were held in Sri Lanka.
PCB keen to upgrade Stadiums
The stadiums in Pakistan has been devoid of any serious upgradations. As a result, all the three proposed stadiums will undergo massive restorations and upgradations.
“If you look at Gaddafi [stadium in Lahore], it is good, but the viewing experience is not great for cricket. Football maybe, not cricket. 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 finalise 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-five months. It will be a very tough test but we can do it,” Mohsin Naqvi concluded.
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