Despite missing the deadline multiple times, the PCB on Thursday announced that the renovation and upgradation at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium is now complete, in record time of 117 days. That means, the venue is now ready to host the ICC Champions Trophy, beginning Feb 19.
Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium Ready
The PCB mentioned in a release that the Lahore Stadium now has better facilities, floodlights, increased seating capacity, and even electronic scoreboards. “I am grateful to all those people who put in day and night of work to get the stadium ready on time despite the apprehensions and criticism,” PCB Chief Mohsin Naqvi said, as per the release.
It was also reported at various points, that the PCB was behind schedule by at least five weeks, and won’t be able to handover the stadiums to the ICC by Feb 12. “I am specially obligated to the nearly 1000 workers who made this dream possible,” Naqvi added. Meanwhile, the stadium will first host the tri-series match against New Zealand on Feb 8.
PCB to Inaugurate Stadium on Feb 7
Not just that, the PCB is slated to host a similar inauguration ceremony for the National Stadium in Karachi, on Feb 11, in the presence of President Asif Ali Zardari. The PCB had allocated PKR 12.8 billion as per reports, it has crossed the budget PKR 18 billion.
Defending champs Pakistan announced the Champions Trophy squad a few days back, but as expected, there can still be a few more changes that be introduced in the squad. There has been a lot of criticism around Faheem Ashraf’s inclusion in the squad, and is likely to be replaced by Feb 11.
Pakistan squad: Mohammad Rizwan (c), Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Tayyab Tahir, Faheem Ashraf, Khushdil Shah, Salman Ali Agha, Usman Khan, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi.
