LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is firm on its stand to host all Champions Trophy 2025 matches in the country despite rumors of a neutral venue or Plan B, sources said on Sunday.
Pakistan will host the Champions Trophy 2025 and recently rumors of a ‘Plan B’ and ‘Neutral Venue’ started appearing in the news where it was announced that the Indian cricket team would not travel to Pakistan and play their matches. in a neutral place.
However, PCB strongly believes that since the event is from Pakistan, it should be completely staged in Pakistan. The International Cricket Council (ICC) annual meeting is scheduled to be held in Colombo from July 19-22 and the PCB delegation will go there with a firm stance on hosting all matches in the country.
Three venues – Karachi, Rawalpindi and Lahore – will host eight-match matches and as per the PCB’s proposed ICC plan, all India’s matches will be held in Lahore.
The PCB has also earmarked Rs 12.80 billion for upgrading three stadiums. The Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, the National Bank Cricket Arena in Karachi and the Rawalpindi International Cricket Stadium will be elevated in front of the event’s marquee.
Apart from India, all the eight teams that will be participating in the Champions Trophy have played in Pakistan before and the PCB believes that India has no good reason not to come here.
If India decide not to travel for the Champions Trophy, then Pakistan will not travel to India for the 2026 T20 World Cup, which the Blues will co-host with Sri Lanka.
The proposed dates for the Champions Trophy are from February 19 to March 9.
The event will mark the return of the ICC Champions Trophy after an eight-year hiatus, last won in 2017 when Pakistan defeated India in the final.
