New Delhi: Preparations for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 are going on in full swing in Pakistan. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is making every effort to make this event a complete success. The Champions Trophy will be played in February under the hosting of Pakistan. Meanwhile, PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi on Monday stressed the urgent need to upgrade the cricket stadiums in the country.
Mohsin Naqvi exposed the condition of Pakistan’s cricket stadiums with his own comments. Talking to a Pakistani media channel, he admitted that there is a huge difference between Pakistani stadiums and international standards. Our stadium is not fit for international standards. Along with this, he also promised to remove the shortcomings to host the event successfully.
Naqvi said that none of the existing stadiums in Pakistan meets international requirements. There was a lot of difference between our stadium and the stadiums of the rest of the world. They were not international stadiums in any way. Not only this, our stadium had no seats, no bathrooms and the view was such that you were looking at it from 500 meters away. This statement of the PCB chief clearly shows that the stadium there did not even have basic facilities.
Earlier, to save money, the Pakistan Cricket Board had issued tenders to rent out floodlights in the stadium for a year instead of installing new ones. Not only this, the Pakistan Cricket Board has also decided to rent out generators. Now it remains to be seen how much the Pakistan Cricket Board is able to upgrade its stadium before the Champions Trophy.
The ICC had approved USD 70 million for Pakistan winning the hosting rights for the Champions Trophy. It remains to be seen whether the Champions Trophy will be held entirely in Pakistan as India are unlikely to travel to the country to play their matches. The Asia Cup in 2023 was held in a hybrid model with all of India’s matches played in Sri Lanka instead of hosts Pakistan.