 "Aerial view of an under-construction Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore ahead of the Champions Trophy. Image credit: X/@ZubairGhaffary")
A little over a month remains for the ninth edition of the ICC Champions Trophy to get underway in Pakistan, with the ‘mini World Cup’ making a return after eight long years. The dust finally appeared to have settled after months of uncertainty owing to a dispute between BCCI and PCB, with the former adamant India will play their matches at a neutral venue instead of traveling to Pakistan.
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Dubai, UAE was eventually chosen as the neutral venue for the Men in Blue over other options such as Sri Lanka and South Africa, with two-time champions set to play all of their matches including the semi-final and the final, if they reach that stage.
There, however, is a possibility that Pakistan might not get to fulfill their dream of hosting their first global tournament at home since 1996, and that the entire tournament might end up being shifted to the UAE entirely in the 11th hour, and not just India’s matches. Here’s why:
Why the 2025 Champions Trophy could be moved out of Pakistan entirely
The reason behind the possibility of the entire tournament getting moved out of Pakistan doesn’t have anything to do with Pakistan’s security situation or with any of the other teams expressing concerns over the same. Rather it’s an issue of a very different nature – that of construction work still going on at Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi, the three cities that will host matches in Pakistan.
According to The Times of India, construction work at Karachi’s National Stadium, Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium and the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium – which had begun in August last year – was supposed to be completed by 31 December. That, however, hardly appears to be the case at present with plenty still left – from fencing work and placement of floodlights and seats to finishing new multi-storied enclosures that will house dressing rooms and hospitality boxes.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“It is a very disappointing picture. All three stadiums are far from ready and it’s not renovation or refurbishment, but proper construction which is underway. There is so much work left with seats, floodlights and even the outfield and playing surfaces,” a source was quoted as telling TOI.
“The weather is not ideal for construction and finishing work to happen at a rapid pace. At Gaddafi, even the plaster work isn’t completed yet. And most of the time is taken by finishing work because we are talking about dressing rooms etc. They just can’t be random rooms/enclosures for an ICC event. ICC has a checklist which needs to be met. National Stadium decided to not completely finish the new stadium because there is no time,” the source added.
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The report adds that the ICC will be sending a team to Pakistan to inspect the status of the three stadiums and are currently discussing contingency plans in Dubai, in case the venues are not ready for handover to cricket’s global governing body on 12 February – a little over a month from now. Shifting the entire tournament to the UAE is being discussed as a possible option.
Having dealt with infrastructural mess in the T20 World Cup last year, especially when it came to the the temporary venue constructed in New York City where Team India played a majority of their matches, the ICC will be hoping to avoid a similar situation in the upcoming Champions Trophy.