Rahul Tiwari
khelja|18-11-2024
The Pakistan Cricket Board is working hard to organize the Champions Trophy 2025 completely in its country. At present, the biggest obstacle in its path remains Team India because the Indian government has refused to send the team to Pakistan citing the safety of its players. While Pakistan is continuously claiming to provide high level security and is threatening everyone from ICC to BCCI, its ability to organize the event is now under question. Even before the Champions Trophy, the Pakistani board had to cancel one of its own tournaments because a massive fire broke out in the hotel where the players were staying.
According to a statement from the PCB, the Pakistani board had to suddenly and completely cancel its domestic women's tournament, the National Women's Championship 2024-25. Five teams were participating in this tournament being held at the National Stadium in Karachi. PCB had completely booked one floor of the hotel for the players and officials of all these teams. Suddenly a fire broke out on this very floor, which scared everyone. During this time, 5 players were in their respective rooms in the hotel but they were immediately saved somehow.
According to reports, most of the players and officials were present at the Karachi Stadium at the time of the incident, some of whom were playing matches and some were practicing in the nets. Only 5 players were in the hotel during this time, who were evacuated in time, due to which a major accident was averted. According to the statement of PCB, the belongings of some players definitely got affected by it. Due to this, the board had to cancel the tournament midway because currently it is not getting 100 rooms in any hotel in Karachi, due to which this decision has been taken.
This accident has once again brought Pakistan's ability to organize the Champions Trophy under question. 8 teams have to participate in the Champions Trophy, out of which the Indian team will not go to Pakistan but the rest of the teams have to play their matches there. Three Pakistani stadiums including Karachi are being rebuilt for the tournament but that too will take a lot of time. Amidst all this, this incident only creates problems for the PCB. Does Pakistan want to organize the Champions Trophy with such preparations?