Former Pakistan player Salman Butt is confident of the upcoming 2025 ICC Champions Trophy is going to be a massive success, given that it will be hosted in Pakistan, where the sport has huge popularity. He also added that the tournament will be bigger than the recently concluded 2024 T20 World Cup, jointly hosted by the West Indies and the United States of America (USA) as well.
He also shared how there wasn’t enough buzz among the locals in the USA for the 2024 T20 World Cup. He also added that things will be much different when an ICC event takes place on Pakistan soil.
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Butt said in his latest YouTube video: “There’s no comparison of this event to the United States of America or any other such country. This will surely be a more successful event than the T20 World Cup. The pitches weren’t up to the mark over there, the stadiums were too far, and the hotels were somewhere else. No locals knew what was happening in their cities, just the overseas people staying there knew about cricket.”
Notably, the ICC reportedly suffered big monetary losses by conducting the 2024 T20 World Cup in the USA as well. According to new news agency PTI (via NDTV), the apex council suffered losses of around $20 million (approximately ₹167 crore) as well. Explaining his point, Salman Butt shared that ICC events in Asian countries like India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, are a guaranteed success because of the craze among the fans as well. He also added that while teams have to travel a lot during the 2024 T20 World Cup, they will receive presidential security in Pakitan, which reduce their travel time also.
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“When such a trophy comes to this part of the world, be it in India, Pakistan, or Bangladesh, the love and respect that the players will receive will be totally different. Also, the teams won’t have to travel for hours. Everything will be sealed and it will take just six minutes for the team to reach the stadium. This is presidential security, such a feel can never be there in USA,” Salman Butt concluded.
