Pakistan hosts the ICC Champions Trophy Cricket Tournament: NPR

India’s Shreyas Iyer (left) plays a shot as Pakistan’s wicket holder captain Mohammad Rizwan is watching the ICC Champions Trophy One-Day International Cricket Fight between Pakistan and India at Dubai International Stadium on February 23.

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Lahore, Pakistan – at an watch party at an outdoor café last Sunday, Pakistani cricket fans stood up and left in confusion well before the match they saw, was over. It started to look like India would win – to interrupt Pakistan’s chances of getting to the final of the Champions Trophy tournament that Pakistan hosts this year. In the final hours of the match, the amount of café of at least 100 was mostly young. Those who remained until the end clapped in resignation as India’s final dough scored a match-winning 100 races-a milestone in the sport.

Still, Cricket-Mad Pakistan has reason to celebrate. The country hosts a major international tournament for the first time in a generation. It is a much needed bright spot in a nation that has struggled to recover from overlapping economic and political crises in the last three years.

The International Cricket Council Champions Trophy is an eight-team tournament played from February 19 to March 9. Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi are among the cities where matches take place. The last time Pakistan hosted an international cricket tournament of this caliber was in 1996 to the World Cup, which Sri Lanka won. (Pakistan came to the quarterfinals that year).

Afghanistans and Australia’s players stand for National Anthem before the start of the ICC Champions Trophy One-Day International Cricket match between Australia and Afghanistan at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on February 28.

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Thursday, after a rained match with Bangladesh, the Pakistan Champions ended Trophy Winless.

Team Captain Mohammad Rizwan recognized that Letdown felt around the county. “We thought we should play and, God willing, priest well in front of the whole nation,” he told Cricket commentator Ramiz Raja. “But we did not appear like that. This is also disappointing to us.”

Still, fans are happy to have international teams playing on their home ground. They also hope it will give Pakistan a reputation boost, so it may host more tournaments like this one in the future.

“It’s a big step, a big achievement,” says 24-year-old Yasir Haseeb, who is outside Lahores cricket stadium before Australia-England match last weekend.

“Cricket is like a religion here,” his friend Ahmad Shawal, 26, bells in.

Some Pakistani fans even came from abroad to see international teams playing, including 46-year-old Munawar Hussain, who traveled to Lahore from his base in Dubai. “It’s more than a match. It’s a party, it’s a festival here,” he says. “I’m glad to see that my people are happy.”

Cricket fans watch the ICC Champions Trophy Cricket Match between Pakistan and India on a TV in a road shop in Lahore, Pakistan, Sunday 23 February.

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A hard -won milestone

Hosting this tournament is a hard -won milestone for Pakistan. In 2009, militant fire opened against Sri Lanka’s national team in Lahore and killed eight people – mostly Pakistani policemen. Six Sri Lanka players and a coach were injured.

Cricket commentator Leena Moin Aziz was inside the Lahore Stadium in 2009 when she got the word about the attack on the Sri Lankan player bus. “At the same moment, I knew cricket would disappear from Pakistan,” she remembers.

She was also convinced that Pakistan would be able to host again one day. “I knew we were an elastic nation and we wanted to make sure the cricket would return,” she says.

Attacked afraid of many international cricket teams away for almost a decade. Zimbabwe was the first team to visit after the attack in 2015. Sri Lanka’s players returned in 2017.

Two years later, visits from international troops became more regular, but there was still some hesitation. New Zealand canceled a visit to 2021 with reference to security concerns, like England, which returned for the first time in 2022 after a 17-year-old hiatus.

It took more than 15 years after the attack for the country to host a larger tournament again.

Pakistan competed with 16 other countries For a chance to host International Cricket Council events taking place between 2024 and 2031. It was awarded Champions Trophy in 2021.

Sami Ul Hasan, Director of Media and Communication for Pakistan’s Cricket Board, says coming back during these events “has been a slow, gradual process.”

What paved the road was the ICC lending support in 2017 for a group of international all-stars To compete in Pakistan As part of a cricket World XI tour, he says. This tour required blessing from ICC Security Consultants, which was shot around in armored vehicles with police escorts to assess Pakistan’s emergency preparedness to host the event.

Field Umpires Adrian Holdstock (left) and Michael Gough inspect Outfield after rain delayed the start of the ICC Champions Trophy One-Day International Cricket match between Pakistan and Bangladesh at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on February 27.

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ICC delegations also traveled to Pakistan several times last year ahead of Champions Trophy. They visited stadiums and met with provincial leaders and police to Iron out of security planswhich later got the gap from the visitors’ cricket board representatives.

Pakistani officials say this year’s tournament is a way to cement its position as a host nation. “It’s a kind of confidence -building measure for the world,” says Muhammad Faisal Kamran, Lahores Deputy Endertor General for police operations.

About 10,000 police officers have been deployed for tournament security in Lahore, he says. He personally has the task of accompanying visitors cricket teams wherever they go. “Actions speak louder than words and we give our best in this event,” he says.

The tournament also comes at an important moment for public morals, commentators say. Pakistan begins to recover only after one of its worst ever Economic crisesThere were levels of inflation that made it difficult for many Pakistanis to afford significant things such as flour, medicine and school fees.

Pakistan has been involved in political controversy since the 2023 prison by former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who remains popular, and a 2024 election that brought his rival party to power in the midst of widespread accusations of voting.

The country also continues to fight militant conditions in two of its provinces bordering Afghanistan, where separatists and extremist groups regularly launch attacks on police, soldiers and civilians. According to the Center for Research and Security Studies, a Think Tank in Islamabad, 2024 was the deadliest year in Pakistan For almost a decade of 2,546 people killed in attack.

Safety concerns have led India to avoid playing in Pakistan

The only team that is not in Pakistan for Champions Trophy now is India who plays its matches in Dubai, citing security concerns. The Indian national team has not played in Pakistan since 2008, a reflection of the disputed political relationship between the two neighboring countries.

India’s Virat Kohli and Axar Patel shake their hands with Pakistan’s Shaheen Shah Afridi (left) at the end of the ICC Champions Trophy one-day international cricket match between Pakistan and India at Dubai International Stadium on February 23.

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India’s no-show was a disappointment for Pakistan’s cricket fans who had to watch the rivalry match last weekend on the phone and TV screens. And for some overpower the excitement of hosting the tournament does not the sting of losing to India.

“I’m a bit of the heart bridge that we lost,” says the 29-year-old Misbah Noreen at the Lahore Watch party.

She still has some optimism for her team to beat Rival India next time.

“We are Pakistani,” she says. “We still have that hope.”