Pakistan venues exceed deadline and struggle to finish construction work before 2025 Champions Trophy: Reports

The ICC Champions Trophy 2025 is soon approaching. However, the venues for the mega event reportedly seem far from completely ready in Pakistan. Pakistan will host the major white-ball ICC event this time around.

As per a report by The Times of India, the three venues in Pakistan are still under construction and upgradation, with just around a month left for the Champions Trophy to commence. The National Stadium in Karachi, the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, and the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium are the three venues. All these venues will have to be ready and handed over to the ICC by February 12, 2025.

However, the situation looks dicey, with Pakistan struggling to finish the construction work on time. The construction and upgradation work began in August last year. Ideally, it was expected to be finished by December 31, 2024. However, the report suggests that the work is nowhere close to completion at the moment.

With Pakistan exceeding the deadline and still struggling to finish the work, the situation is worrisome for the ICC ahead of the Champions Trophy. The report also added that the global cricket body is set to send a team to Pakistan soon for a status check.

"It is a very disappointing picture. All three stadiums are far from ready and it's not renovation or refurbishment, but proper construction which is underway. There is so much work left with seats, floodlights, facilities and even the outfield and playing surfaces," an anonymous source was quoted as saying by The Times of India.

The source also added that the weather conditions in Pakistan at the moment are not best suited for construction. This comes as another major roadblock, with the Champions Trophy soon approaching.

"The weather is not ideal for construction and finishing work to happen at a rapid pace. At Gadaffi, even the plaster work isn't completed yet. And most of the time is taken by finishing work because we are talking about dressing rooms etc. They just can't be random rooms/enclosures for an ICC event. ICC has a checklist which needs to be met. National Stadium has decided to not completely finish the new enclosure because there is no time," the source said.

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Champions Trophy to move out of Pakistan and shift to UAE?

With very little time left to hand over the stadiums, there is a possibility that the Champions Trophy could move out of Pakistan. The report suggests that should the nation fail to hand over the venues on time and meet the ICC checklist, the tournament could be moved to the UAE.

The report states that informal contingency discussions are already underway in Dubai. As Pakistan will have to speed up the work, the ICC would not want the standards of the venues to be compromised.

"It's a no-brainer on what would happen if PCB misses deadlines and venues don't meet ICC checklist. Tournament can't be played at semi-ready venues. The next week will give more clarity on the future but PCB and ICC together need to pull off a miracle," the source stated.