LAHORE: The budget for the 2025 Champions Trophy has been approved at the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) annual meeting in Colombo, Geo News reported on Monday.
The approval of the competition's budget, which will be hosted by Pakistan, was given on the last day of the ICC meeting.
Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Mohsin Naqvi also attended the meeting.
Remember, the budget was prepared by ICC Chief Finance Officer Ankur Khanna and PCB Chief Finance Officer Javed Murtaza.
The PCB stands firm on its stance of hosting all of the Champions Trophy 2025 matches in the country despite rumours of a neutral venue or plan B.
Pakistan is set to host the Champions Trophy 2025 and recently, the rumours of a "plan B" and "neutral venue" started to emerge in the news, wherein it was reported that the Indian cricket team will not travel to Pakistan and play their matches on a neutral venue.
However, the PCB strongly believes that since the event is of Pakistan, it should be completely staged in Pakistan. The International Cricket Council's (ICC) annual meeting is scheduled in Colombo from July 19 to 22 and the PCB delegation will go there with a strong stance of hosting all the matches in the country.
Three venues — Karachi, Rawalpindi and Lahore — will host the matches of eight matches and according to PCB's proposed schedule to ICC, all of India's matches will take place in Lahore.
The PCB also allocated Rs12.80 billion for upgradation of three stadiums. Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium, Karachi's National Bank Cricket Arena and Rawalpindi International Cricket Stadium will be elevated ahead of the marquee event.
Except India, all eight teams that will participate in the Champions Trophy have already played in Pakistan and the PCB believes that India does not have a strong reason not to come here.
The proposed dates for the Champions Trophy are from 19th February to 9th March.
This event will mark the return of the ICC Champions Trophy after an eight-year hiatus, with its last occurrence in 2017, when Pakistan emerged victorious by defeating India in the final.
Sohail Imran Sohail Imran is a senior reporter for Geo News.
