Islamabad, Pakistan – Almost three decades ago, on March 17, 1996, Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga deftly and calmly guided Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath’s delivery to third man as Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium erupted in applause from more than 30,000 – mostly Pakistani – fans.

By successfully chasing the target of 241 runs for the loss of just three wickets, Sri Lanka not only secured their first-ever Cricket World Cup victory, it was the first time a host or co-host of the Cricket World Cup had won the trophy.

That was also the last time Pakistan hosted a major global cricket event, alongside India and Sri Lanka.

Now that 29-year wait is finally coming to an end as Pakistan is set to welcome at least seven of the world’s top teams for the ICC Champions Trophy, which is scheduled to begin on February 19. Pakistan had won the tournament the last time it was played in 2017.

With 15 matches in total, Pakistan will face New Zealand in the tournament’s opening match in Karachi, while the final is set for March 9.

The event features the top eight men’s teams – Australia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, and South Africa – based on International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings.

India, the biggest and most influential cricketing nation, announced in November last year that its team would not travel to Pakistan, in line with its government’s policy since the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

In a compromise reached among stakeholders, Pakistan agreed to host a hybrid version of the tournament, with India playing all its matches in Dubai, including the final, should they qualify.

Pakistan will still likely host 11 out of 15 matches, and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) views that as a considerable achievement.

“People do not realise what an incredible challenge this was. It took countless hours of lobbying, convincing, arguments and overcoming a variety of hurdles to ensure the tournament is played in Pakistan,” a senior PCB official told Al Jazeera in a recent interview in Lahore, requesting anonymity.   

‘A significant moment’

While Pakistan’s South Asian neighbours such as India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and even the United Arab Emirates have hosted various ICC events over the last 15 years, the Champions Trophy in Pakistan marks a “significant moment,” says Ali Khan, an associate professor at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS).

Khan, who authored Cricket in Pakistan: Nation, Identity, and Politics in 2022, says that Pakistan once had a proud sporting history, hosting several global events across various sports, including squash, hockey and snooker, particularly in the 90s.

Besides the Cricket World Cup, Pakistan also hosted the Hockey World Cup in 1990, and hockey’s Champions Trophy in 1994, the World Amateur Snooker Championship in 1993, and the Pakistan Open was an annual feature on the global squash calendar.

But all that changed in the new millennium, as the country was gradually ostracised from global sports events due to increasing violence, following the 9/11 attacks in the United States, and the subsequent American invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

The New Zealand cricket team was scheduled to tour the country in September 2001, but delayed the visit for a few months following the attacks, and landed in April 2002 to play a two-test series.

However, a bomb blast in a hotel in Karachi, opposite where the visitors were staying, meant that the series had to be abandoned.

Australia, too, declined to travel to Pakistan, and the scheduled tour in October the same year was instead played in Sri Lanka and Sharjah, in the UAE.

The following year, 2003, saw cricket return to the country with South African and Bangladesh tours, followed by the arrival of the Indian team for a full tour in 2004, after a gap of 15 years.

But as violence in the country increased, its impact was acutely felt on sports. The ICC Champions Trophy 2008 was scheduled to be hosted by Pakistan but security concerns and reluctance by other teams to travel meant the tournament was shifted to South Africa the following year.

The final nail in the coffin of Pakistan as a sporting host came on March 3, 2009, when Sri Lankan cricket players were attacked while travelling in their team bus to Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium. Six policemen and two civilians lost their lives in the brazen attack, but all players and officials survived, despite sustaining injuries.

“Unfortunately, we are now not seen as a major player on the international stage, which mirrors our political landscape – very few major world leaders visit Pakistan any more. So, hosting this event in the current climate is very important for the country,” Khan said.

Veteran Indian cricket analyst and writer Sharda Ugra agreed, calling the Champions Trophy 2025 a culmination of the struggles endured by Pakistan’s cricketing community since the March 2009 attack.

And hosting big events makes a difference, she said.

“Sports, and cricket is a unifier. When you have people visiting, it helps change perceptions for those who have never been here,” Ugra told Al Jazeera.

The PCB official emphasised the tournament’s importance, not just for economic activity but also for rekindling fans’ passion for the sport. Pakistan will earn hosting fees of $6m, and hopes to make much more as a nation through ticket sales, tourism and hospitality catering to fans.

“For any country in the world, hosting an International Cricket Council (ICC) event is a major deal. A global event means you have all the eyeballs, it helps motivate fans to engage with the sport, while it also generates economic and social activities. A multilateral tournament brings together a country in ways that a bilateral series cannot,” the board official said.

Security concerns or geopolitical tensions?

For Pakistan, winning the right to host the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, announced back in November 2021, was a coup for the country’s cricketing establishment.

But the leadup to the tournament was marked by a resurgence in violent incidents, making the past 12 months the deadliest since 2016.

According to the Islamabad-based think tank Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), more than 2,500 people were killed in attacks last year, including nearly 700 security personnel, more than 900 civilians, and about 900 armed fighters. Most of these incidents occurred in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southwestern Balochistan provinces.

The tournament, though, will be played in the three main cricket centres: Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi; all cleared by the ICC’s security team.

The PCB official argued that security concerns were no longer a real worry, pointing to the successful hosting of international cricketing teams in recent years and the Pakistan Super League (PSL), the country’s premier domestic T20 tournament which regularly features top international players.

“I do not agree that security is a major concern any more. It was in the past, but not now. All our major venues have been cleared by the ICC,” the official said.

Following the 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan team, Pakistan was forced to play its “home” matches at neutral venues, first in the United Kingdom, and then the UAE as a regular venue. However, as the country’s military waged a war against armed groups, international cricket gradually returned.

“From 2009 onwards, we had to take baby steps to rebuild. Each painstaking step brought us closer to where we are now,” the official added.

Former ICC and PCB chairman Ehsan Mani also believes security concerns have eased considerably.

“When I left the board, security was not a concern for visiting teams. In fact, they said there was too much security,” Mani, who stepped down in August 2021, told Al Jazeera.

Barring the two newest entrants to Test cricket, Ireland and Afghanistan, and of course India, every other Test-playing nation has visited Pakistan since 2019, including England and Australia – the two other biggest cricket markets apart from India.

But Sri Lankan writer and cricket analyst Andrew Fidel Fernando suggests the tournament’s challenges are more geopolitical than security related.

“So many teams have toured Pakistan in recent years without issues, so security is unlikely to be the real reason. This is more about geopolitics and its implications,” Fernando told Al Jazeera.

India’s absence

Fernando’s reference to geopolitics highlights the tournament’s biggest controversy – India’s absence from Pakistani soil.

India’s refusal to travel has reignited debates about the ICC’s governance and whether it is beholden to cricket’s most powerful board, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Under the ICC’s latest revenue model, the BCCI is set to earn nearly $230m annually – roughly 40 percent of the ICC’s total revenue. In 2023, ICC broadcast rights for the 2024-2031 cycle generated $3.1bn from the Indian market alone, while the United Kingdom, the second-largest market, fetched just $260m.

Since the 2008 Mumbai attacks, India has refused to play bilateral series against Pakistan, and since 2009, has barred Pakistani players from participating in the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL).

The attacks, which lasted for four days, resulted in the deaths of at least 175 people, including nine attackers. Pakistan has continued to deny any involvement in the attacks.

Despite Pakistan travelling to India several times to participate in multilateral events – including the 2023 Cricket World Cup – the BCCI said in November last year that the Indian government had not granted the team permission to travel next door to its South Asian neighbour.

It was not always like this.

Ahead of the 1996 ICC World Cup, a bombing in Colombo killed at least 91 people just two weeks before the tournament. Australia and the West Indies forfeited their matches in Sri Lanka, citing security concerns. In response, Pakistan and India sent a combined team for an exhibition match to show solidarity and to underscore that Sri Lanka was a safe country to play in.

Mani, who was on the 1996 World Cup organising committee, recalls that time as a period when the Asian cricketing bloc stood united.

“In that tournament, the ICC had minimal involvement. It was the PILCOM [a joint management committee] that ran things. Our priority was cricket,” he said.

Ugra, the Indian analyst, believes those days are long gone.

“The solidarity of the Asian bloc has evaporated, and the BCCI bears much of the responsibility. When the Western bloc was looking down upon you, you relied on your regional partners, but when things changed, you immediately moved on,” the Bangalore-based Ugra said.

Khan, the academic, pointed to the Indian board’s financial strength, as well as the political influence that the Indian government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is widely believed to wield over the BCCI. Until last November, Jay Shah, the son of India’s powerful Home Minister Amit Shah, considered Modi’s second-in-command, was secretary of the BCCI. The junior Shah is now the ICC’s chairman.

“Indian financial strength, especially in cricket is unmatched, but the Modi-led Indian government perhaps also seemingly wants to isolate Pakistan in every sphere,” Khan said. “Pakistan, on the other hand, needs them and finds itself in a difficult spot because it needs to reach out to a country which actively dislikes you.”

Is this Pakistan’s big stage?

Until late last year, uncertainty reigned over whether the tournament would even take place in Pakistan, following India’s refusal to travel. This caused delays in announcing the tournament schedule, ticketing and logistics.

Adding further ambiguity was the fact that both Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore and National Stadium in Karachi were undergoing extensive renovations, while Rawalpindi, the third venue, needed final touches, too. The combined cost of the renovations was nearly 12 billion Pakistani rupees ($43m).

Mani, the former PCB and ICC chief, squarely blamed the ICC for the “fiasco” around the Indian team’s decision not to travel.

“Why was Pakistan scrambling about these things at the 11th hour? From the time the tournament was allocated until now, the ICC could and should have talked to the BCCI to sort it out rather than wait so long. It is a complete failure on their part,” he said.

Khan, whose father, Shahryar Khan, was a former Pakistani diplomat and ex-PCB chief, said that contrary to expectations, the PCB, under chairman Mohsin Naqvi, managed to complete the stadium overhauls, which deserved praise. However, he also pointed to the “haphazard nature” of preparations.

“We have shown that the stadium can be built rapidly, and I really hope we are able to pull off the tournament with aplomb. But logistics still concern me. Ticketing issues for fans remain. There is barely any advertisement or promotion about the tournament,” said Khan.

The senior PCB official, who has been associated with the organisation for at least a decade, acknowledged the challenges faced by Pakistan but pointed to the ongoing tri-series between Pakistan, New Zealand and South Africa as proof of the stadiums’ readiness.

“Our planning is very robust. We have well-trained teams deployed at both Pakistani venues and in the UAE, and we are completely ready to host the event to the best of our abilities,” the official added.

However, the official also noted that India’s refusal to travel forced Pakistan, which has a stated policy of not mixing sports with politics, to reconsider its stance. Unlike in the past, Pakistan will not travel to India for cricket matches until at least 2027: Pakistan matches supposed to be hosted by India will instead be held at neutral venues. This policy will span men’s and women’s games.

“European nations fought in both world wars, but they have learned to move past them. Similarly, we kept going to India, trying to treat sports as sports. But enough is enough, which is why we are going to change our policy. How long can we allow this treatment?” the PCB official asked.

Colombo-based Fernando, however, believes that this hybrid version of the ICC Champions Trophy is perhaps the best possible outcome for Pakistan in the circumstances.

“In previous decades, you’d say that if a team didn’t want to tour, they’d just be excluded, and someone else would step in. But broadcasters would never agree to a tournament without India. And India was never going to play in Pakistan. So, this is as close to a decent solution we could have gotten,” he said.

With less than a week until the tournament, Khan from LUMS emphasised that Pakistan needed to step up and deliver, on and off the pitch.

“Security remains the key issue during the event, so the government needs to pull out all the stops to ensure it is held safely for both fans and teams. It certainly helps to have a chairman [Mohsin Naqvi] who is also the country’s interior minister,” he said.

“But the players also need to perform on the biggest stage. They must prove themselves as quality players who should be sought after by other T20 leagues. The team needs to do well, which will enhance their reputation and increase their bankability. We have shown we can survive without playing India bilaterally, but now we need to take it to the next level.”