Champions Trophy: Arrivals, stadium updates, and squad deadlines

WEB DESK: Here are all the latest updates to the Champions Trophy, including the arrival dates for all participating teams, the development work being conducted on stadiums, and the squad announcement deadlines for the participating teams

Teams arrival dates

The foreign teams participating in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Champions Trophy including Australia, England, South Africa, Afghanistan, New Zealand, and Bangladesh are set to begin arriving in Pakistan in first week of February.

Specifically, the New Zealand and South African teams will arrive in the first week, while the Australian and England teams are arriving in Lahore after February 10. Similarly, the Afghanistan team will arrive in the second week, in Karachi.

India is the eighth foreign team, but their matches will take place in Dubai in accordance with the adopted hybrid formula.

Practice matches, which are being held in Lahore, Karachi, and Rawalpindi, will begin on February 12 and will last till February 18. Each team will be provided two optional practice matches before the tournament begins in Lahore on February 19, according to sources.

Also read: PCB moves tri-series from Multan to Lahore and Karachi

ICC delegation in Karachi

A six-member delegation from the ICC, including broadcasters and logistics personnel, also recently visited the National Stadium in Karachi. They reviewed the arrangements for the upcoming tournament and were briefed on the development work being conducted to bring the stadium up to international standards. The main building, media centre facilities, and even the dressing rooms are being reviewed.

The opening ceremony, and the subsequent first match of the tournament which will see Pakistan and New Zealand face each other, will take place at the National Stadium. Apart from the opening contest, two more matches are scheduled to take place in Karachi, including Afghanistan vs South Africa and South Africa vs England.

Alongside Karachi’s National Stadium, Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium is in the advanced stage of preparations. Before the Champions Trophy takes place, a tri-nation ODI series between Pakistan, New Zealand, and South Africa will take place in both stadiums, which will be the first chance fans get to experience the upgrades made.

If India do not qualify, one semi-final is also set to take place in Lahore.

Also read: ICC rankings: All updates to Pakistani batters

Deadlines for squads

The deadline for submitting preliminary squads to the ICC has been set midnight on February 11. Teams are not required to announce their squads publicly.

All teams can make changes to preliminary squads without ICC approval until the aforementioned date. From February 12 onwards, any and all modifications will require the approval of the ICC technical committee.