PCB proposes three venues for 2025 Champions Trophy

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Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi are the three venues proposed by the PCB in the initial draft schedule of the 2025 Champions Trophy, sent recently to the ICC. The tournament has been inked in for a mid-February window as the PCB hastens plans to upgrade venues that will host the first ICC event in the country in nearly 30 years.

Pakistan are defending champions having won what was thought to be the last edition of the Champions Trophy in 2017. But, in 2022, the ICC brought back the tournament in the new rights cycle (2023-27) and awarded the hosting rights of the 2025 edition to Pakistan.

The eight-team tournament is expected to be played over two weeks, though the exact dates are not known yet. The PCB finalised the venues and the schedule after an ICC sent a team to conduct recces.

"We've sent the schedule for the matches in Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy," PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi said at a press conference in Lahore. "The ICC's security team came and we had a very good meeting. They looked at arrangements here and we'll also share stadium upgrade plans with them. We're continuously in touch with the ICC. We are trying to ensure we host a very good tournament in Pakistan."

Discussions on the schedule will likely focus now on India's presence at the event. ESPNcricinfo understands the initial draft has all games, including India's, being played in Pakistan.

Normally, once the host board sends in the draft schedule, it undergoes various iterations which are done by various teams within the ICC, which then shares it with the broadcaster and the other boards before the schedule is finalised. The next official ICC meeting is the global body's annual conference in July.

Ultimately, however, the fate of India's games will hinge on the political climate between the two countries and whether or not the Indian government grants permission to the BCCI to let its team travel to Pakistan. Frosty relations between the two governments has meant India have not toured Pakistan since the 2008 Asia Cup. Last year, the PCB had to adopt a hybrid model while hosting the Asia Cup, whereby some games were played in Pakistan but all of India's games and the final were held in Sri Lanka.

A month later Pakistan travelled to India to play in the 50-over World Cup but the decision for either country to play in the other is always a politically guided one.

Pakistan last held an ICC event back in 1996, when they co-hosted the ODI World Cup with India and Sri Lanka. Since then, they've gone through two periods when security concerns have meant teams have been reluctant to tour: in the early 2000s when Australia, England and New Zealand didn't tour because of the 9/11 attacks and the ensuing war in neighbouring Afghanistan; and from 2009 to 2015 when no teams toured because of the terror attack on the visiting Sri Lankan team. Pakistan were due to host the Champions Trophy in 2008 but that was postponed and moved to South Africa in 2009. They were also due to co-host the 2011 World Cup but had to pull out as a venue.

The Champions Trophy will be the centrepiece of a busy home season for Pakistan. They are also hosting South Africa and New Zealand for an ODI tri-series right before the ICC event (and start the home season this year with visits by Bangladesh and England).

The scheduling crunch will also mean finding an appropriate window that year for the PSL's 10thseason. January is an option after Pakistan return from a tour of South Africa, though that puts the league in a direct clash with the SA20, the ILT20 most likely, the BPL, as well as the BBL. Scheduling the PSL after the Champions Trophy, in March, means playing it right through Ramadan, a clash the PCB has generally tried to avoid as it impacts attendances, timings as well as commercial opportunities.

There will also be the challenge, as Naqvi acknowledged, of improving the stadiums in the three cities, stadiums that have not had serious upgrades for a number of years now.

"If you look at Gaddafi [stadium in Lahore], it is good, but the viewing experience is not great for cricket. Football maybe, not cricket," Naqvi said. "We need to improve facilities in the stadiums, where there are some old problems. [The National Stadium in] Karachi is in bad shape. So on May 7th, we'll finalise bids from international companies who will come and help us design. We will work with local consultants as well. We are already late but we need to do these upgrades in four-five months. It will be a very tough test but we can do it."