Lahore: The Pakistan Cricket Board has suggested Lahore as India’s home base during next year’s ICC Champions Trophy, in its bid to ensure the best security arrangements for the neighbours. A reliable source in the PCB said that this suggestion has been made in the draft schedule of the event sent to the ICC in late April.
“Yes Lahore has been suggested as the home base for the Indian team to reduce their travelling and to provide them with the best security arrangements,” the source said.
India last year refused to play the Asia Cup in Pakistan because of security concerns, following which their matches were moved to Sri Lanka.
Pakistan is due to host the major ICC 50-over event tentatively between February 19 to March 9 next year.
The ICC executive board is yet to approve the draft schedule but the PCB has also kept Karachi and Rawalpindi as other venues for Champions Trophy matches.
This is the first time since 1996 that Pakistan will be hosting any major ICC event although it did host the entire Asia Cup in 2008 and also some games of the same event last year.
The BCCI is yet to formally confirm whether it would be sending the national team to Pakistan for the ICC event.
PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi has indicated that a major overhaul is on the cards in the Pakistan team following their six-run loss to India in the T20 World Cup in New York on Sunday.
He also said that all three stadiums in Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi will be upgraded ahead of the Champions Trophy.
The PCB has also said that it would be hosting the Pakistan Super League sometime in April next year because of the Champions Trophy and a tri-series it plans to host before the ICC event with South Africa and New Zealand being the other participating sides.
