Despite the doubts, Pakistan’s renovations are on track, albeit the clock is ticking loudly
Danyal Rasool24-Jan-2025The joke in Lahore – or it would be, if it wasn’t so often true – is that everybody seems to be in a hurry, and yet nothing is ever on time. It is perhaps only fitting that, just a few months ago, there was a nagging worry this would also apply to the city’s most iconic sporting colosseum, the Gaddafi Stadium.While the Champions Trophy was awarded to Pakistan three years ago, the upgrades required to Pakistan’s venues – most notably in Lahore – only started in earnest in August. At the time, PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi announced that a massive infrastructure project would see the whole structure knocked down and rebuilt almost from scratch, after admitting that none of Pakistan’s stadia were up to international standards and promising to change that.At the same time, the PCB recognised that scepticism in Pakistan concerning whether this could be done on time was high. They have issued a dozen updates since, insisting that the project is on track to finish on time, and that 250 workers labour “day and night” to meet the deadline.Related
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They have more than once quashed speculation that construction delays could see the tournament moved to the UAE. A fortnight ago, the board felt confident enough that work at each venue was on track to announce that a tri-series before the Champions Trophy – originally scheduled for Multan – would take place in Lahore and Karachi, instead.The area around the Gaddafi Stadium was never an oasis of calm but, just two weeks out from the start of that tri-series, it is a hive of frenzied activity. Diggers fill in the dirt in the gap between the front rows in the stands and the boundary fences. Power tools and welding kits lie scattered about, while managers assure there is little concern about the tight deadline they must stick to.Two things become immediately clear; there is indeed much to do, but also that it is being done at breakneck speed. The balcony in front of the players’ pavilion – part of a new hospitality enclosure for players and officials – offers perfect views in line with the pitch, though it has some way to go before it’s ready. There’s a 4x2m rectangular hole sectioned off in the middle, while the staircase they will descend to take to the field is in its embryonic stages.The Imran Khan enclosure at Gaddafi Stadium is being renovated•Danyal RasoolA rectangular mortar structure a quarter full of wet cement nestles in the corner which, when completed, will be used for players’ ice baths. This is the side of the ground where much of the refurbishment is happening; many of the hospitality and corporate enclosures have been rebuilt from scratch.The walk back down the stairs to the ground floor is made slightly nervy by the current absence of safety rails on either side, but here is where the work is most concentrated; hammering, nailing, welding, excavating, beaming, all happening in such fury it is hard not to feel that one’s own presence is a hindrance. It is here, underneath the Imran Khan enclosure, that bricks and cement lie scattered about on the sludgy ground, with the floor tiles yet to be laid.Make your way from underneath those long columns, out of the tunnel and into the open expanse of the stadium itself, and the bigger picture – in more ways than one – hits you. Most of the standing structure has been erected, and more than half the seats are laid out. More are being added as you watch, like an ever-expanding sea of forest green and white. Two new giant replay screens in the ground are also being added; one is complete, with the other more than halfway there.There used to be no view to speak of from the foot of the enclosures because large steel fences had been erected in the past. While they kept spectators physically away from the playing field, they also had the effect of visually locking them out from seeing the actual cricket they happened to be there for.Seats have now been laid in more than half the stands at the Gaddafi Stadium•Danyal RasoolNow, this is where the action will feel closest. The steel cages are gone, and they’re not coming back. Instead, a dry moat will keep the playing area protected from any unwanted fan incursions, without making any compromises to the viewing experience. It is an experience that more people will be able to partake in; the venue capacity has been increased to 35,000. Crucially, much of the increase in capacity has occurred closer to the ground, which would have been impossible in the past when the fences ruled that area out as a seating option.The lost context of the bigger picture at the expense of deadline anxiety is a bit of a shame. The PCB remain confident that, despite the Champions Trophy 2025 bearing down on them, everything is on track. The ICC too say progress is on track. But this grand old theatre was due an upgrade anyway regardless of whether seven teams came here to play some 50-over games this spring or not.The last renovation on this scale occurred in 1996, which also happened to be the last time Pakistan played host to an ICC event. On that occasion, Lahore was the venue for Sri Lanka’s victory over Australia in the World Cup final. It was then that the modern Gaddafi – in all its neo-Mughal grandeur – was built.The result of this upgrade will be a superior matchday experience, long after those three weeks have come and gone. Until now, the notion that a venue has an obligation to provide a spectator anything more than entry upon the production of a ticket had been something of an alien concept. Obliged to raise their standards for an ICC event, a PCB official told ESPNcricinfo they intended to keep those standards just as high in future events, even when the ICC’s hand wasn’t steering them in that direction.Through a warren of mud tracks, tunnels and corridors is where the car park used to be. It is now a makeshift camp office, set up in a repurposed shipping container where the head of infrastructure for the stadium is seated. We were due for a chat, but it seems there may have been a miscommunication. He is busy, and it will have to wait for a later date. After all, he has work to do, and not much time to do it in.