The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has earmarked Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi as the venues for next year’s ICC Champions Trophy.
The Champions Trophy was held in England in 2017, but is tentatively scheduled to be held in February-March next year.
“We have sent the match schedule for the Champions Trophy in Pakistan,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi said at a press conference in Lahore. The ICC security team came and we had a very good meeting. They are looking at the arrangements here and we will also be sharing with them our stadium upgrade plans.
“We are trying to organize a very good tournament in Pakistan,” Naqvi said.
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The PCB has been adamant that the tournament will not be changed in any way to suit India.
Naqvi also admitted that the conditions of all three proposed venues are currently substandard in terms of hosting international cricket matches.
“If you look at Colonel Gaddafi, [Stadium] (Here), which is good, but the cricket viewing experience is not very good. It might be football instead of cricket,” Naqvi said.
“We need to improve the facilities at the stadium, which has some old problems. The condition in Karachi is bad. So we will finalize bids from international companies to help with the design on May 7.
“Already delayed, these upgrades should be done within four to five months. It will be a very tough test, but we can get it done,” Naqvi concluded.
