 "Capacity at Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium is being increased to 35,000 ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy. Reuters")
Amid concerns over the readiness of the Pakistan’s venues for the upcoming Champions Trophy, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has provided a major update – that the stadiums will be ready by the end of January, well before they are to hand them over to the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Karachi’s National Stadium, which hosts the tournament opener between Pakistan and New Zealand on 19 February, and Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium were in the news recently for the wrong reasons as renovation work for the ICC Champions Trophy that was supposed to be completed by 31 December was taking far longer than expected.
The PCB was also left red-faced after images and videos shared by local journalists showed a sorry state of affairs as far as construction work at these venues was concerned, leading to concerns over the fate of the Champions Trophy matches scheduled to be held in Pakistan with some even speculating the entire tournament could be moved out of the country.
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The Mohsin Naqvi-led board, however, remains confident of Pakistan hosting its first global cricketing event in more than 28 years, and believes that the venues will be ready well before the opening ceremony that is scheduled to take place a couple of days before the opening game in Karachi.
“We are on schedule to complete the renovation and upgrade of the Gaddafi Stadium (in Lahore),” PCB spokesperson Sami Ul Hasan was quoted as saying by Dawn.
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More Shorts“The venue is expected to be handed over to us by the end of the month.
“We have no doubt about Gaddafi Stadium’s operational readiness to host the Champions Trophy match between Australia and England on February 22," he added.
Arshad Khan, general manager of Karachi’s National Stadium, also assured the press that work at the stadium would be completed by the end of the month along with Gaddafi Stadium, which was originally scheduled to host the final but now faces uncertainty due to India playing all of their matches in Dubai . He added that the two venues will be handed over to the ICC on 5 February, two weeks before the Champions Trophy gets underway.
Gaddafi Stadium’s capacity has been increased to 35,000 and new hospitality areas have been built in the venue that had hosted the final of the 1996 Wills World Cup, which had been co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka.
The number of corporate and hospitality boxes at the National Stadium, meanwhile, have been increased by 24 and the main building that will house the Chairman’s Box and the administration block will be able to accommodate around 1,000 people, Arshad added. Additionally, better folding chairs have been installed while seating has been increased.
Lahore and Karachi will host an upcoming ODI tri-series featuring South Africa and New Zealand besides Pakistan to test the renovated venues before the Champions Trophy, which returns to action after eight years.