The Pakistan Cricket Board is busy preparing for next year's Champions Trophy. The status of Team India's participation is still unclear and it is believed that the tournament will be organized on a hybrid model, with India's matches being played in some other country instead of Pakistan. However, the Pakistan Board is leaving no stone unturned in the preparations and spending heavily. According to a report, the PCB is spending around Rs 13 billion to refurbish the stadium for the tournament.
ICC trophy after 8 years in Pakistan
After a wait of almost 8 years, the Champions Trophy is making a comeback and for the first time Pakistan is hosting it. To be held in February-March 2025, the tournament is the first ICC event on Pakistani soil in the last 29 years. In such a situation, the Pakistan board wanted to prepare itself in every way and the most important thing was the maintenance and renovation of the stadium and for that only the PCB decided the maximum budget. Some time ago PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi described the country's stadiums as very bad.
Highest expenditure on Lahore Stadium
Pakistan has made Lahore, Rawalpindi and Karachi the venues for the tournament, which will begin on February 19. Pakistan Board Chairman Mohsin Naqvi told officials at a board meeting in Faisalabad that 12.8 billion Pakistani rupees, or about 388 crore Indian rupees, are being spent on the renovation of these three stadiums. The largest of these, 7.7 billion Pakistani rupees, is being spent on the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, which is undergoing major renovations including office buildings, pavilions, flood lights.
3.5 billion spent on Karachi Stadium
While 3.5 billion Pakistani rupees will be spent on National Stadium in Karachi and it also includes important issues like flood light and building. The remaining Rs 1.5 billion will be spent on the Pindi Stadium in Rawalpindi. Among them, work is currently underway on stadiums in Karachi and Lahore, while the work will be done later on at Pindi Stadium as it is currently the most important test match venue for the Pakistan team. Here, Pakistan recently played 2 Test matches against Bangladesh, while Test series matches against England are also to be played.
The ICC team will tour Pakistan
In a few days, an ICC team will visit Pakistan to review the preparations. Meanwhile, along with the renovation of the stadium, the status of preparations regarding the security system will also be checked. Apart from this, the schedule of the tournament, which was announced by Pakistan a few weeks ago but is yet to be finalised, will also be discussed.
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