Everyone in Lahore seems to be in a rush, but nothing is ever on time. That’s the joke, or it would be, if it weren’t so frequently true. Perhaps inevitably, there was a persistent concern a few months ago that this might also affect the Gaddafi Stadium, the city’s most famous sports arena.

Even though Pakistan won the Champions Trophy three years prior, the necessary improvements to their venues—particularly in Lahore—did not begin in earnest until August. When PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi acknowledged that none of Pakistan’s Gaddafi stadiums met international standards and pledged to improve them, he declared that a huge infrastructure project would have the entire building demolished and rebuilt essentially from the ground up.
At the same time, the PCB acknowledged that many people in Pakistan doubted whether this could be completed on schedule. Since then, they have released a dozen updates, stating that 250 personnel are working “day and night” to meet the deadline and that they expect to complete the project on time.
They have repeatedly denied rumors that the event would move to the United Arab Emirates due to construction delays. Two weeks ago, the board became sufficiently certain that construction at each location was proceeding as planned, leading them to declare that a tri-series prior to the Champions Trophy, which they initially planned for Multan, would now take place in Lahore and Karachi.
The vicinity of Gaddafi Stadium was never a peaceful haven, but now, two weeks before the tri-series begins, there is a flurry of activity. Diggers fill the space between the boundary fences and the front rows of the stands. Managers say they have little worry about meeting the strict deadline, while power tools and welding kits lie strewn all over the place.
It is instantly apparent that a lot of work remains, yet workers are completing it at a dizzying rate. The workers are still developing the staircase that players will use to descend to the field, and they have sectioned off a 4×2 m rectangular hole in the center.
When finished, a rectangular mortar structure with a quarter full of wet cement nestled in the corner will serve as an ice bath for the players. The team is carrying out most of the renovations on this side of the property; they have completely renovated many of the corporate and hospitality enclosures.
There are currently no safety rails on either side, which makes the walk back down the stairs to the ground floor a little unsettling. However, this is where the workers perform the majority of the work; they hammer, nail, weld, excavate, beam, and carry out other tasks so quickly that it is difficult to avoid feeling as though one’s own presence hinders them. Workers have strewn bricks and cement all over the muddy ground beneath the Imran Khan enclosure, and they have not yet installed the floor tiles.
Moving from beneath those lengthy columns, out of the tunnel, and into the Gaddafi stadium’s wide space, the larger vision becomes clear to you in a number of ways. Over half of the team has arranged the chairs, and the crew has put up the majority of the standing structure. As you watch, workers are adding more, creating a sea of forest green and white that keeps growing.
They prevented onlookers from physically entering the playing field, but they also prevented them from seeing the actual cricket that they were there to watch.
The action will feel most intense here. The steel cages are vanished and will never return. Rather than compromising the watching experience, a dry moat will shield the playing field from any unwelcome fan intrusions. With the venue’s capacity expanded to 35,000, more people will be able to enjoy this event. Importantly, the developers expanded a large portion of the capacity closer to the ground, a feat that was previously impossible due to the fencing that prohibited the use of that space for sitting.
It’s a little unfortunate that deadline worry has taken precedence over the larger picture. Even though the Champions Trophy 2025 is looming over them, the PCB is still certain that everything is proceeding as planned.
Progress is on track, according to the ICC as well. Regardless of whether seven teams came here to play any 50-over games in spring or not, this big old theater needed a makeover nevertheless.
In addition to being the final occasion that Pakistan hosted an ICC tournament, the last major restoration occurred in 1996. At that time, Sri Lanka defeated Australia in the World Cup final, which took place in Lahore. The current Gaddafi, in all its neo-Mughal splendor, was built during that period.
Long after those three weeks have passed, the update will have produced a better matchday experience. Up until now, the idea that a venue has a duty to give a visitor more than just admission when they show their ticket had been somewhat of a foreign idea. Even though the ICC wasn’t pushing them in that manner, a PCB official told ESPNcricinfo that they had to increase their standards for an ICC tournament and planned to keep those standards at the same level for future events.
The parking lot used to be through a maze of tunnels, passageways, and dirt tracks. The head of infrastructure at the Gaddafi stadium now works in a temporary camp office built in a converted shipping container. It will have to wait till later since he is really busy. He has job to do, after all, and not much time to accomplish it.
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