“Champions Trophy feels like…”: Pakistan hosting 1st Major ICC event after nearly 30 years will be more than Just a Tournament

The 2025 edition of ICC Champions Trophy has made a comeback after eight years, and is being hosted by Pakistan. The cricket fans in the nation are more then happy to see this massive-scale event make a comeback. Along with that there is also hopes that the nightmares of days after the attack on a Sri Lankan team in 2009 get buried in the past.

The terror attack led to Pakistan being unable to host any sort of international cricket for 10 years, and the Men in Green had no other choice than to host their home matches in United Arab Emirates (UAE).

However, for someone like Haji Abdul Razzak, a businessman, the Champions Trophy feels like another birthday. Razzak had raised the Sri Lankan flag on March 17, 1996 at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore as Sri Lanka beat Australia and secured the title.

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Now, after 29 long years, the enthusiastic cricket fans are going to attend the opening match of the Champions Trophy 2025, going to be held on February 19, between Pakistan and New Zealand in Karachi.

“It is fresh in my mind,” Razzak was quoted as saying by AFP.

“My country was thriving back then, and cricket was on everyone’s mind,” he said with tears in his eyes.

“Terrorism took everything away from us. I am overjoyed to see a global event coming back to our country, and I feel like it will be my birthday,” he added.

The Champions Trophy 2025 is going to begin February 19, with Pakistan hosting the tournament. There are a total of eight teams participating in the event- Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan, England, Australia and South Africa.

The ICC event is going to be held in a hybrid format, with India’s matches set to be played in Dubai. This decision came in because the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Indian government denied sending Men in Blue to Pakistan because of security concerns.