The upcoming Champions Trophy 2024, which is scheduled to take place in Pakistan, is going to be a huge event for the success of the country’s cricket calendar and the return of the game. They haven’t hosted any of the ICC tournaments since the ODI World Cup in 1996, while the event is set to make a return after eight long years.
However, there is still concern over the hosting rights of the country, for the tournament. There were talks of India not being able to make their trip to Pakistan, due to political reasons, as they had been waiting for the green signal from the government regarding the situation.
The Indian team hasn’t made a trip to the neighboring country since the 2009 Asia Cup, while the last bilateral series between them took place in 2012. Since that point in time, the Green Brigade has toured India twice for the 2016 T20 World Cup and then the recent 2023 ODI World Cup.
ICC shows concerns over Pakistan’s arrangement for Champions Trophy 2025
Despite the muddy situation regarding the Champions Trophy, Pakistan has done an incredible job in making all the arrangements for the tournament, as they have already made a draft schedule for the event, where India has been allotted to take part in all of their games in Lahore to avoid most of the travels around the country.
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But, despite the whole situation, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has shown their concern to the PCB regarding the conditions of the stadiums, which will host the tournament. The delegation visited the country to inspect the venues and the security ahead of the tournament.
The Sports Tak has reported that the ICC has expressed their concerns regarding the venues, which are currently in the mode of reconstruction, as they are still not sure about the period when the renovations will end and whether it will be finished before the tournament.
The reports have claimed that the deadline to end the construction work was before January 31, 2024, in the venues. The sources who are close to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have revealed the dissatisfaction of the ICC regarding the conditions of the stadiums. Even though that hasn’t been a major headache for them.
Recently, because of the renovation work, the second of the two-match Test series against Bangladesh at the National Stadium in Karachi was forced to move to Rawalpindi. There were concerns over the same ground being able to host the second of the upcoming three-match Test series against England in the autumn.
In the end, after the final discussions among the board members, PCB decided to move the game to Multan. The Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore has also been taken away from hosting any games till January when they are scheduled to host one of the Test matches against West Indies towards the start of 2025.
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Rawalpindi is the ground that is hosting the bulk of the games of the international home season for Pakistan, along with a few games of the upcoming Champions Trophy. They are also awaiting the final decision of the BCCI, who is planning to follow the hybrid model for the competition, and half their games in either of Sri Lanka or the United Arab Emirates, just the way they played the Asia Cup 2023.
The full schedule of the tournament is expected to come in the next few weeks, along with the final stand of India regarding the event.
