PCB chairman says country is fully capable of hosting the tournament and this is a breakthrough for Pakistan cricket
\n KARACHI
\nPakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ramiz Raja is confident that there will be no negativity and no pull-outs from the Champions Trophy as the International Cricket Council (ICC) allowed Pakistan to host the 2025 edition of the tournament.
\nSpeaking to media via an online conference, the former captain said that there is nothing to worry about and \u201cPakistan is fully capable of hosting the tournament\u201d.
\nThe ICC on Tuesday had announced hosts for the eight major events from 2024 to 2031 with Pakistan getting the rights to host ICC Champions Trophy in 2025.
\n\u201cThis is a breakthrough for Pakistan cricket,\u201d Raja said, adding that it wasn\u2019t an easy thing for Pakistan to kill the negative perception surrounding the country and convince others that Pakistan is a deserving candidate especially after pullouts by New Zealand and England.
\n\u201cWe are organising this event on our own, not sharing it with anyone else. We have to do a lot of work to prepare ourselves for this event now. This is a milestone for us and I hope there are more to come. We will be hosting the Asia Cup before that too,\u201d he stated.
\nThe Asia Cup will be held in Pakistan in 2023.
\nBrushing aside fears of any last-minute pullouts by the teams from the tournaments, he said: \u201cIt is not going to happen.\u201d
\n\u201cThey [ICC] went through all the pros and cons and after going through the details, came to the conclusion that Pakistan is fit enough to host and administer the Champions Trophy. You shouldn\u2019t worry at all. I don\u2019t think there will be any negativity or any pullouts at all,\u201d said the PCB chairman.
\n\u201cWe won\u2019t be going to the UAE for the Asia Cup or the Champions Trophy. Not everything happens because of India. We are also here. Don\u2019t worry,\u201d he said.
\nThe commentator-turned-cricket administrator said that Pakistan has got hosting rights to a major event after 1996 \u2014 the fans and media shouldn\u2019t be bothered about what other boards have got.
\n\u201cWe need to focus on what we can do, forget the rest. This is major progress, that we have hosting rights to an ICC event after 28 years. If we continue to question why this and why not that, then I would say, the sky is the limit and one can\u2019t be satisfied. Things don\u2019t happen according to what one wishes, you need to bring a lot of things under consideration before finalising event hosts,\u201d he said, when one journalist pointed out that India is hosting three events and Pakistan has got just one.
\nRaja said that the award of Champions Trophy hosting rights to Pakistan is the result of the country\u2019s consecutive efforts for the last few years.
\n\u201cIt wasn\u2019t an easy thing to present our case in the ICC because we had to change Pakistan\u2019s perception. Things would\u2019ve been much easier had New Zealand and England not pulled out. We convinced the world that Pakistan can\u2019t be ignored.\u201d
\nShedding light on the role of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), Raja said that it is not just because of PSL, a lot of factors have contributed to bringing Pakistan to this stage where it can host an international event.
\n\u201cOne neutral security adviser had suggested that security arrangements in Pakistan are better than arrangements at EPL and Formula 1,\u201d Raja disclosed.
\nTalking about ties with India, the chairman said that he has a very good working relationship with Saurav Ganguly but added that there are political hurdles in bilateral cricket between the two countries.
\n\u201cA bilateral series with India may not be something easy to organise at this stage but we may work on some triangular events sometimes. But let me tell you that one can\u2019t withdraw that easily from a major tournament. When a country is named as host then it means that teams have to tour the country. I have a good working relationship with Saurav Ganguly and have discussed how to take cricket forward. As far as India-Pakistan cricket is concerned, it faces political hurdles,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PCB chairman says country is fully capable of hosting the tournament and this is a breakthrough for Pakistan cricket KARACHI Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ramiz Raja is confident that there will be no negativity and no pull-outs from the Champions Trophy as the International Cricket Council (ICC) allowed Pakistan to host the 2025 edition […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228018,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-228001","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n