After months of uncertainty due to security concerns, finally ICC board has given a green signal for staging the Champions Trophy in Pakistan, bringing an end to all the speculations as to which country will host this tournament. The tournament will be held in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi from September 11 to 28.
The decision was taken during a teleconference on Thursday where the western block needed seven votes to shift the venue from Pakistan, the Asian block led by India remain united and thwarted all the attempts made by the western block to change the host country, in the meeting all the security concerns and different security reports were thoroughly discussed and Pakistan’s view point regarding those concerns was heard.
The board also established a task team to manage those concerns and perceptions and to ensure the effective implementation of the recommendations of the ICC’s independent security advisors and to liaise with various stakeholders.
The players from South Africa, NewZealand, Australia and England have threatened to pull out if the tournament is hosted in Pakistan, its yet to be seen how the boards of these countries respond to such threats. It is expected that NewZealand and Australia might send their B teams to Pakistan as in those countries life of junior players is not as precious as that of the senior players. Australia has not toured Pakistan since 1998.
Some uncertainty still looms as the ICC has set a task force to oversee the implementation of the recomendations of the security experts and a deadline of August 10th has been set.
“If it’s a battle of legality and logic, we have won it,” PCB chief operating officer Shafqat Naghmi said.
“But if still they say that they have reservations, what can we do?”
The host broadcaster ESPN Star also wanted the Champions Trophy shifted otherwise it faced huge losses if forced to televise a second-rate event if the Western block countries send their B teams.
Despite hosting Asia cup and several international series successfully during the last six months its unfortunate that Pakistan still has to prove that it’s a safe venue for International cricket.
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