LAHORE: Unfortunately, it has come to light that the ICC Champions Trophy opening ceremony in Pakistan next month will not take place. This is mostly because the Australian and English teams arrived late for the coveted competition.
Furthermore, it has been revealed that the elite eight-nation tournament would not feature any warm-up matches.
According to a reliable source who spoke to Dawn, England will arrive in Lahore on February 18, one day before the event’s opening match between reigning champions Pakistan and New Zealand, in line with the travel schedule that all of the participating teams had communicated to the International Cricket Council (ICC).
The Australian team will arrive in the province capital on February 19 and play their opening group stage match against England on February 22 in Lahore.
“The original plan to hold the traditional opening ceremony featuring the participating teams and their captains has been cancelled due to the late arrival of the Australian and English teams,” the insider disclosed.
The insider went on to say, “But the PCB is thinking of organizing an event of some kind on its own to commemorate the grand tournament’s opening.”
Because of the tense political ties between the two neighboring countries, the Indian team and its captain might not go to Pakistan to attend the opening ceremony, according to some recent media sources.
In order to eliminate the controversy around the Indian squad’s potential to skip the opening ceremony, the ICC may find that the late arrival of the Australian and English teams is actually a boon. The ICC has already chosen the hybrid format, whereby India will play all of its matches in Dubai, including the semi-final and final, if they qualify, due to the Indian government’s adamant refusal to send its cricket team to Pakistan.
The Australian team, now in Sri Lanka, will wrap up their trip on February 14, while the England team is currently on a limited-overs series tour of India that ends on February 12. The insider added, “They wanted to give their players a break following the lengthy tours, even though both teams could get to Pakistan a few days before the Champions Trophy began to [to] attend its opening ceremony.
Additionally, none of them will play any warm-ups because South Africa, New Zealand, and Pakistan will all be participating in a brief ODI tri-series in Lahore and Karachi from February 8 to 14.
The two other participating teams, the Bangladeshi and Indian teams, will arrive in Dubai on February 15 in time for their debut match on February 20, thus even though the Afghanistan squad will arrive in Lahore on February 12, they won’t have any team to warm up with. Bangladesh and India probably won’t play any warm-up games either.
The schedule states that New Zealand will travel to Lahore on February 5 and South Africa on February 6 in order to participate in the tri-nation series.
On January 31, the Champions Trophy will also arrive in Pakistan. From there, it will be transported to the cities where it was unable to be sent during its last tour.
Rebuilding the Gaddafi Stadium
In the meantime, the PCB reports that the Gaddafi Stadium’s restoration is nearing completion.
During a media briefing on Wednesday in Lahore, a PCB spokeswoman stated, “The chairs of all the enclosures will be installed by the end of Thursday night.”
“The office building and pavilion have also been finished, and the work to install new furniture there has begun,” the spokesperson continued.
“In addition, every other task within the stadium has been finished.”
