Did PCB and Pakistan cricket fans successfully make the case for hosting future ICC events in Pakistan after hosting the ICC Champions Trophy 2025?

[Savak]

Let's be honest, the Cricket Stadium infrastructure is still below par in the country where the PCB does not have modern drainage facilities

The Cricket Fans in Pakistan or so called also dissappointed massively by not turning out in large numbers for a lot of the neutral games ie South Africa vs England, New Zealand vs Bangladesh and now the Semi Final between South Africa and New Zealand. I am sure the ICC is not going to be happy about this and may have made a loss on this tournament already

Last but not the least, the foreign players being mostly surrounded by Presidential level security, having to deal with the travelling logistical nightmare and last minute Dubai change of conditions adjustments.

I don't think Pakistan is going to get any ICC event anytime soon and neither will the foreign players be happy about playing in Pakistan in these conditions in front of empty stadiums.

 

[Kianig89]

Security wise , yes Pakistan did excellent

Fans wise, 50-50 may be Pakistan exit in 1st round did not help.

Infrastructure: Pakistan still in World War era

 

[shah9425]

Yeah we will get more tournaments

Next is T20 WC and Odi WC

Although we need to prepare and renovate other stadiums

So we have at least 8 to 10 stadiums ready

 

[Varun]

When me and a group of friends went to Ranthambore for a tiger safari, the capacity in the various jeeps split us into 3 different groups.

Group 1 = saw 2 tigers up close and clear
Group 2 = didn't see a tiger at all
Group 3 = saw a single tiger from far away, crawling in the distance behind a group of trees

Pakistan are in Group 3. They can't say that they didn't see a tiger (host a tournament), and now the BCCICC will keep quoting CT 2025 before Pakistan is able to host another tournament again. They might as well have been in Group 2.

 

[Savak]

Security wise , yes Pakistan did excellent

Fans wise, 50-50 may be Pakistan exit in 1st round did not help.

Infrastructure: Pakistan still in World War era

We have to compare with the ICC events in India. Now it helped big time that India won the 2011 ODI WC and qualified for the semi final of the ICC T20 WC in 2016 and the final of the ODI WC 2023. How was the attendance of the matches played between the neutral teams in these events? If they were sold out then that is a damning failure on Pakistan's part especially considering they were hosting a big major ICC event after 30 years.

 

[Savak]

Yeah we will get more tournaments

Next is T20 WC and Odi WC

Although we need to prepare and renovate other stadiums

So we have at least 8 to 10 stadiums ready

Stadiums is only one part of the equation, you need to have quality 5 star plus hotels as well close by and given the security challenges in Pakistan, the security arrangements necessary will be very disruptful for traffic and also annoying for players, officials.

To counter this problem, PCB proposed partnering up with the private sector and building 5 star plus hotels very close to the stadium where the players, officials have an underground tunnel with which they can enter, exit the stadiums therefore minimizing public inconvenience or actually building 5 star lodging facilities inside the stadiums. However these are very expensive projects and given the poor state of the Pakistani economy, very unlikely to take off and materialize soon.

 

[YousafTheBeast]

They should’ve just held the Champions trophy in a T20 format, you would’ve had fully packed stadiums for a match starting at 6:30pm.

 

[Bhaijaan]

This tournament has been an eye opener for me. Cricket probably isn’t that popular in Pakistan as i thought. More people turned up for Zakir Naik’s shows than cricket matches of a tournament held in their country after decades. Pakistanis create some noise online creating a false image that they’re the second most passionate cricket nation but when it became to walking the talk the stadiums have been empty. I am sorry to say but every other country in the Top 10 ranking has better crowds during tournaments. This has been a national shame if one has to be brutally honest.

Talk is cheap.
You can make all the noise in the world. The President of Pakistan openly asks the team to beat Bharat specifically. All these rants about BCCI trying to hurt Pakistan cricket this and that but when it came to projecting soft power and sending a strong message to world cricket about the appetite and love for Cricket in Pakistan, the Pakistani fans proved themselves to be as docile as their cricket team.

I am a passionate cricket fan. I genuinely expected better from your fans and i am in no mood to make a politically correct sounding post here and want to call a spade a spade and speak my heart out. Absolutell disgrace from your fans and i want to hear no more excuses and rants coming from this country about cricket. You are fake cricket fans and all you can do is talk talk talk and cry about BCCI ten times a day but when ICC gave you every opportunity to fill the stadiums to support cricket in your country you backed off . The ticket prices are dirt cheap from what i checked, there’s no excuse for this exodus.

These are major Pakistani cities and densely populated. If you cannot sell cricket there then where else?

This empathy for Pakistan cricket will die down with these acts of cowardice from Pakistani cricket fans. Probably Sri Lanka and West Indies need more love.

 

[charlie007]

I really wish relations between India and Pakistan were normal and it would have been just a regular day seeing Indian teams play here and Indian fans attending matches here. I can pretty much guarantee crowds would have been much much bigger and interest a LOT more.
Alas! A pipe dream it will remain.

 

[SportsWarrior]

This tournament has been an eye opener for me. Cricket probably isn’t that popular in Pakistan as i thought. More people turned up for Zakir Naik’s shows than cricket matches of a tournament held in their country after decades. Pakistanis create some noise online creating a false image that they’re the second most passionate cricket nation but when it became to walking the talk the stadiums have been empty. I am sorry to say but every other country in the Top 10 ranking has better crowds during tournaments. This has been a national shame if one has to be brutally honest.

Talk is cheap.
You can make all the noise in the world. The President of Pakistan openly asks the team to beat Bharat specifically. All these rants about BCCI trying to hurt Pakistan cricket this and that but when it came to projecting soft power and sending a strong message to world cricket about the appetite and love for Cricket in Pakistan, the Pakistani fans proved themselves to be as docile as their cricket team.

I am a passionate cricket fan. I genuinely expected better from your fans and i am in no mood to make a politically correct sounding post here and want to call a spade a spade and speak my heart out. Absolutell disgrace from your fans and i want to hear no more excuses and rants coming from this country about cricket. You are fake cricket fans and all you can do is talk talk talk and cry about BCCI ten times a day but when ICC gave you every opportunity to fill the stadiums to support cricket in your country you backed off . The ticket prices are dirt cheap from what i checked, there’s no excuse for this exodus.

These are major Pakistani cities and densely populated. If you cannot sell cricket there then where else?

This empathy for Pakistan cricket will die down with these acts of cowardice from Pakistani cricket fans. Probably Sri Lanka and West Indies need more love.

it is no so surprising. Honestly cricket, especially test cricket, is not that popular in Pakistan. I visited Pak for Indian tours in early 2000s and spectators for even Indian tests were far and in between. Looks like ODI is also going to the same way. Even T20s like those in PSL attract okayish crowds. We are on the cricket focused forum and Pakistanis on this forum are obviously passionate but the normal citizen on the street seems to not much care for them.

BD fans are actually more passionate but too emotional and it is a cringe experience to watch a match in Dhaka. Went two times to Dhaka to watch ODI and T20Is and honestly wouldn't recommend it.. SL seems to be the best place to watch cricket outside India. Good crowds, pretty knowledgeable and generally decent experience. But nothing beats watching matches in Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore, etc.

 

[SportsWarrior]

I really wish relations between India and Pakistan were normal and it would have been just a regular day seeing Indian teams play here and Indian fans attending matches here. I can pretty much guarantee crowds would have been much much bigger and interest a LOT more.
Alas! A pipe dream it will remain.

lol no. I attended matches when India toured Pak in early to mid 2000s. ODIs had good crowds but in tests stadiums were not even 20% full. even ODIs i could easily find a ticket when i booked like two days before and there were enough empty seats, especially among mid tier and top tier seats.

 

[Savak]

This tournament has been an eye opener for me. Cricket probably isn’t that popular in Pakistan as i thought. More people turned up for Zakir Naik’s shows than cricket matches of a tournament held in their country after decades. Pakistanis create some noise online creating a false image that they’re the second most passionate cricket nation but when it became to walking the talk the stadiums have been empty. I am sorry to say but every other country in the Top 10 ranking has better crowds during tournaments. This has been a national shame if one has to be brutally honest.

Talk is cheap.
You can make all the noise in the world. The President of Pakistan openly asks the team to beat Bharat specifically. All these rants about BCCI trying to hurt Pakistan cricket this and that but when it came to projecting soft power and sending a strong message to world cricket about the appetite and love for Cricket in Pakistan, the Pakistani fans proved themselves to be as docile as their cricket team.

I am a passionate cricket fan. I genuinely expected better from your fans and i am in no mood to make a politically correct sounding post here and want to call a spade a spade and speak my heart out. Absolutell disgrace from your fans and i want to hear no more excuses and rants coming from this country about cricket. You are fake cricket fans and all you can do is talk talk talk and cry about BCCI ten times a day but when ICC gave you every opportunity to fill the stadiums to support cricket in your country you backed off . The ticket prices are dirt cheap from what i checked, there’s no excuse for this exodus.

These are major Pakistani cities and densely populated. If you cannot sell cricket there then where else?

This empathy for Pakistan cricket will die down with these acts of cowardice from Pakistani cricket fans. Probably Sri Lanka and West Indies need more love.

There are a lot of factors to blame, our team's poor performances in all formats for a while, when you are at the bottom of the rankings in all formats, playing poorly in ICC events, fan engagement will suffer.

Economy of the country has a role as well. People don't have much disposable income to pay for entertainment, luxuries.

 

[charlie007]

lol no. I attended matches when India toured Pak in early to mid 2000s. ODIs had good crowds but in tests stadiums were not even 20% full. even ODIs i could easily find a ticket when i booked like two days before and there were enough empty seats, especially among mid tier and top tier seats.

Talking about white ball cricket only. You only had to fill in 70%, Indian fans would fill in the remaining 30%

 

[Bhaijaan]

it is no so surprising. Honestly cricket, especially test cricket, is not that popular in Pakistan. I visited Pak for Indian tours in early 2000s and spectators for even Indian tests were far and in between. Looks like ODI is also going to the same way. Even T20s like those in PSL attract okayish crowds. We are on the cricket focused forum and Pakistanis on this forum are obviously passionate but the normal citizen on the street seems to not much care for them.

BD fans are actually more passionate but too emotional and it is a cringe experience to watch a match in Dhaka. Went two times to Dhaka to watch ODI and T20Is and honestly wouldn't recommend it.. SL seems to be the best place to watch cricket outside India. Good crowds, pretty knowledgeable and generally decent experience. But nothing beats watching matches in Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore, etc.

I remember and it was disgusting.
You had Sachin and Sehwag batting for hours in an empty stadium you could hear the players talk. For a supposedly historic tour the crowd in test matches was atrocious. It was pathetic and disgusting.

 

[SportsWarrior]

regarding the OP's questions, they have done a good job in terms of security, but crowds have been disappointing. Until Pak mends its relationship with India, none of this will matter as no tournament will be hosted fully in Pak as India won't tour them. But they can always host multi-nation tournaments with other countries

 

[SportsWarrior]

Talking about white ball cricket only. You only had to fill in 70%, Indian fans would fill in the remaining 30%

may be, i have my doubts as i did attend even ODIs and even then the crowds were not full. But due to huge appetite for India Pak matches it may happen for few matches.

 

[SportsWarrior]

I remember and it was disgusting.
You had Sachin and Sehwag batting for hours in an empty stadium you could hear the players talk. For a supposedly historic tour the crowd in test matches was atrocious. It was pathetic and disgusting.

yes, that test match!!! you could hear call for run from 10 rows back . it was pretty sunny one of the days and since there were no crowds we were right at the back closer to shade and even there we could hear batsmen calling. They also didn't play much of music if i remember correctly and sometimes nothing used to happen for whole over.

If you know how it is in Indian stadiums, something or other keeps happening. You have waves, shouting matches, clowns making fool of themselves for fun, huge amount of food and beverages, chanting, drums, singing, etc. These seemed to be fully absent in Pak, although present in SL. BD hit and miss. The ODI i attended we had to be careful not to p*** off BD fans with any noise, they used to get too emotional.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

it is no so surprising. Honestly cricket, especially test cricket, is not that popular in Pakistan. I visited Pak for Indian tours in early 2000s and spectators for even Indian tests were far and in between. Looks like ODI is also going to the same way. Even T20s like those in PSL attract okayish crowds. We are on the cricket focused forum and Pakistanis on this forum are obviously passionate but the normal citizen on the street seems to not much care for them.

BD fans are actually more passionate but too emotional and it is a cringe experience to watch a match in Dhaka. Went two times to Dhaka to watch ODI and T20Is and honestly wouldn't recommend it.. SL seems to be the best place to watch cricket outside India. Good crowds, pretty knowledgeable and generally decent experience. But nothing beats watching matches in Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore, etc.

It has been a failure from PCB and Pakistani marketers to make a market from cricket.

The way Karachi - a city with a proud cricketing legacy - has lost interest is shameful.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Security wise , yes Pakistan did excellent

Fans wise, 50-50 may be Pakistan exit in 1st round did not help.

Infrastructure: Pakistan still in World War era

That is a good summary. Aside from couple of breaches security was okay.

 

[GoUgandaCranes]

I honestly see no point in hosting any tournament in Pak any time soon. The players feel locked up & have nothing to do in their downtime, the fans don't turn up, & the team is bland with nothing exciting happening on the field for home fans. The grounds also are archaic with zero facilities for the fans as well as no machinery or drainage system, people using towels & foams to remove rain water from GSL when super soppers exist was just embarrassing to see as a cricket fan.

We need 5-10 years of non-stop economy development & infrastructure upgrade in line with green initiatives before we should get a tournament. There's no point of hosting a tournament in the country when no foreign fans will turn up, imagine if 2K or so fans from England, Aus, RSA, each traveled to Pak to follow their team. Let's work on making our PSL better & also ensuring that we have stadiums in diverse cities (imagine Gujranwala having a stadium as well as proper facilities for players & then you'd see proper crowd).

 

[sweep_shot]

Pakistan should definitely host more events. Some great games took place in Pakistan (England-AFG, England-AUS, SA-NZ etc.).

Anyway, they have to improve the drainage systems.

 

[NishanKonar]

Pakistan reminds me of India of the 90s

In those days it was ok to host ICC events in shabby stadiums in small towns. But the game has evolved. Even Sri Lanka & Bangladesh has better looking venues

Hosting a CT semifinal in a open air stadium like Gaddafi looks a bit off. Its like hosting FA Cup semi-final at Southall stadium. Aesthetics do matter a lot in this era

May be Pakistan should invest in 1 state-of-the-art stadium purely for big ICC events

 

[Flat_Track_Bully]

Pakistan reminds me of India of the 90s

In those days it was ok to host ICC events in shabby stadiums in small towns. But the game has evolved. Even Sri Lanka & Bangladesh has better looking venues

Hosting a CT semifinal in a open air stadium like Gaddafi looks a bit off. Its like hosting FA Cup semi-final at Southall stadium. Aesthetics do matter a lot in this era

May be Pakistan should invest in 1 state-of-the-art stadium purely for big ICC events

50k+ seater stadium is being built in Islamabad.

 

[sweep_shot]

50k+ seater stadium is being built in Islamabad.

Always wondered why no game took place in Islamabad (capital of Pakistan).

 

[PakFan2010]

Yes, no terorrist attacks is a massive success.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

I think players would have enjoyed it the most then anyone else....getting presidential security would have been a luxury for them

 

[Mesozoic]

I think players would have enjoyed it the most anyone else....getting presidential security would have been a luxury for them

Oh dear lord....

 

[Devadwal]

I think players would have enjoyed it the most anyone else....getting presidential security would have been a luxury for them

Are you serious? Enjoy wo bhi presidential security Main? Funny

 

[Vikram1989]

I think players would have enjoyed it the most anyone else....getting presidential security would have been a luxury for them

Any one wants freedom in a new place to roam not presidential security

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

Let's be honest, the Cricket Stadium infrastructure is still below par in the country where the PCB does not have modern drainage facilities

The Cricket Fans in Pakistan or so called also dissappointed massively by not turning out in large numbers for a lot of the neutral games ie South Africa vs England, New Zealand vs Bangladesh and now the Semi Final between South Africa and New Zealand. I am sure the ICC is not going to be happy about this and may have made a loss on this tournament already

Last but not the least, the foreign players being mostly surrounded by Presidential level security, having to deal with the travelling logistical nightmare and last minute Dubai change of conditions adjustments.

I don't think Pakistan is going to get any ICC event anytime soon and neither will the foreign players be happy about playing in Pakistan in these conditions in front of empty stadiums.

You are not getting any ICC event further.. hopefully BCCI makes sure if that.

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

I think players would have enjoyed it the most anyone else....getting presidential security would have been a luxury for them

Are you serious?