New Delhi: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will spend around 17 billion Pakistani rupees to spruce up stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi for the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy.
Another Rs 240 million Pakistani rupees, up from 70 million, were allocated for women’s cricket, it was decided at PCB’s board of governors meeting in Lahore on Saturday.
Work for renovation of stadium, which would cost around 13 billion Pakistani rupees, has already begun and the rest four billion Pakistani rupees would be used to organise domestic competitions.
PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi also expressed confidence of hosting the tournament entirely in Pakistan despite uncertainty over India coming to the country over security and political issues.
India’s decision to travel to participation rsts on an approval from the Indian government and Naqvi said the matter would be up for discussion at ICC’s annual board meeting in Colombo later this month.
Pakistan will host Bangladesh, England and West Indies apart from a tri-series before the Champion Trophy and is also scheduled to tour Australia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
“The budget has been increased because the PCB wants to improve competition level and the structures in both domestic and women’s cricket,” Naqvi said, as quoted by PTI, while adding that salaries of players under the central contract list would be increased.
Discussion
The PCB will also host a discussion with former players to improve the structure of its domestic cricket and has invited 25 former internationals to formulate a way forward on Monday.
They will discuss with Naqvi and other board officials on how to reduce the gap between domestic tournament and international cricket and consider handing contracts to around 360 players in different formats.
(1 Pakistani Rupee: 0.30 Indian Rupee).
PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi also expressed confidence of hosting the tournament entirely in Pakistan despite uncertainty over India coming to the country over security and political issues. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
