Gaddafi Stadium

Originally Lahore Stadium, the ground was renamed in 1974 in honour of the former Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi following a speech he gave at the 2nd Organisation of the Islamic Conference meeting in Lahore in favour of Pakistan's right to pursue nuclear weapons.[6] The stadium houses the headquarters of the Pakistan Cricket Board.[7]

In 1995–96, the Gaddafi Stadium was renovated by architect Nayyar Ali Dada - who is qualified from National College of Arts Lahore - for the 1996 Cricket World Cup.[7] Dada's redesign was done in the Mughal style, with red, hand-laid brickwork and arches. Dada also had plastic seating installed in place of the existing concrete benches. The lower portion under the stands was enclosed and converted to shops for boutiques and offices. Gaddafi Stadium was the first in Pakistan to be equipped with modern floodlights having their own standby power generators.[8]

On 23 October 2011, Pakistan Cricket Board discussed renaming the stadium following the death of Gaddafi, to support the new government in Libya. The Punjab Olympic Association made a similar request in late October 2011 to the provincial chief minister, "I don't think his profile is inspirational enough to link with our cricket stadium's identity." As of April 2012, however, it does not appear that the stadium's name will be changed after all.[9]

Gaddafi Stadium being the largest cricket stadium in Pakistan used to have capacity of 60,000 spectators, until the redesigning of its enclosures reduced the capacity to 27,000.[10]

A Panoramic view of Gaddafi Stadium at Night

In 1968, a Test match, played against England, was affected due to riots.[7]

In 1977, another Test, also against England, was affected due to riots between police and spectators.[7]

Three hat-tricks have been taken at the stadium, by Peter Petherick of New Zealand against Pakistan, 9 October 1976, Wasim Akram of Pakistan against Sri Lanka, 6 March 1999 and Mohammad Sami of Pakistan against Sri Lanka.

Pakistan has enjoyed some memorable moments on the ground, including a fifth-wicket stand of 281 between Javed Miandad and Asif Iqbal against New Zealand in 1976 and an innings and 324 run win against New Zealand in 2002.[3]

On 3 March 2009, the scheduled third day of second Test of 2008–09 Sri Lanka tour of Pakistan, the Sri Lankan team's convoy was attacked by armed militants at Liberty Roundabout, near Gaddafi stadium. Eight Sri Lankan players were injured, including Sri Lankan captain, Mahela Jayawardene. The Sri Lankan team was air-lifted from Gaddafi Stadium to a nearby airbase, from where they were evacuated back to Sri Lanka, this event marked the end of international cricket in Pakistan.[7]

However, on 19 May 2015, the Zimbabwe cricket team landed at the Allama Iqbal International Airport to become the first Full Member nation to tour Pakistan since March 2009.[11] On 5 March 2017 the final of the 2017 Pakistan Super League was played in the stadium.[7][12] Pakistan won both ODI and T20I series comfortably.

On August 2017, PCB along with ICC started to improve international cricket in Pakistan. With that, under heavy security, PCB planned World XI tour to Pakistan for three T20Is.[13][14]

In August 2017, Thilanga Sumathipala, president of Sri Lanka Cricket, said that he would like to play at least one of the three T20I matches in Lahore, Pakistan during October.[15][16][17] In March 2009, the Sri Lanka cricket team were attacked by terrorists while travelling to the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Since then, the only Test side to visit Pakistan has been Zimbabwe, when they toured during May 2015.[15] Two of Sri Lanka's current team, Chamara Kapugedera and Suranga Lakmal were on the bus during the 2009 terrorist attack, and both could have been selected for the T20I squad for this series.[18]

In September 2017, the fixtures were confirmed, with the final T20I match of the series scheduled to be played in Lahore.[19] Sri Lanka Cricket said that players have a "contractual obligation" to play the match in Lahore, but it was unlikely to issue penalties to any player who chose not to visit Pakistan.[18] However, on 14 October 2017, the Sri Lankan team expressed their reluctance to travel to Pakistan, requesting that the fixture is moved to a neutral venue.[20] On 16 October 2017, Sri Lanka Cricket confirmed that the fixture in Lahore would go ahead as planned, but their limited-overs captain, Upul Tharanga, had pulled out of the match.[21] Despite the concerns from the players, team manager Asanka Gurusinha felt that a competitive squad would be named.[22] On 19 October 2017, Sri Lanka's chief selector, Graham Labrooy, said that players who do not travel to Lahore would be unlikely to be selected for the other two T20I fixtures.[23] The squad for the T20I fixtures was named two days later, with Thisara Perera selected as captain.[24]

The Sri Lankan squad arrived in Lahore under "extraordinary" security and made their way to the team's hotel in a bomb-proof bus.[25] Ahead of the T20I in Lahore, Cricket Sri Lanka's president Thilanga Sumathipala said that the team was privileged to be in Pakistan and that he would help support the country in hosting more tours.[26] Najam Sethi, chairman of the PCB, said that this fixture would be the start of international cricket returning to the country, with him expecting every country to play in Pakistan by the end of 2020.[27] Pakistan went on to win the T20I series 3–0.[28]

A T20I match scheduled to be played against Bangladesh on 27 January 2020 at the Gaddafi stadium was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to heavy rain.[29]

The venue is also hosted some of the main matches as a part of the 2018 Blind Cricket World Cup.[30][31] In September 2019, the Pakistan Cricket Board named it as one of the venues to host matches in the 2019–20 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.[32]

This stadium hosted six One Day International (ODI) matches during 1987 Cricket World Cup and 1996 Cricket World Cup.

1987 Cricket World Cup

16 October 1987 Scorecard

West Indies  216 (50 overs)

v

Pakistan 217/9 (50 overs)

Pakistan won by 1 wicket

4 November 1987 Scorecard

Australia  267/6 (50 overs)

v

Pakistan 249 (49.2 overs)

Australia won by 18 runs

1996 Cricket World Cup

26 February Scorecard

Netherlands  145/7 (50 overs)	v	Pakistan 151/2 (30.4 overs)
Flavian Aponso 58 Waqar Younis 4/26 (10 Overs)		Saeed Anwar 83* Peter Cantrell 1/18 (4 overs)

Pakistan won by 8 wickets Umpires: K.T. Francis and Steve Bucknor Player of the match: Waqar Younis (Pak)

1 March Scorecard

Netherlands  216/9 (50 overs)	v	United Arab Emirates 220/3 (44.2 overs)
Peter Cantrell 47 (106) Shaukat Dukanwala 5/29 (10 overs)		Saleem Raza 84 (68) Roland Lefebvre 1/24 (8 overs)

United Arab Emirates won by 7 wickets Umpires: Mahboob Shah and Steve Randell Player of the match: Shaukat Dukanwala (UAE)

• This was the first ever official ODI between two ICC Associate teams.

6 March Scorecard

Pakistan  281/5 (50 overs)	v	New Zealand 235 (47.3 overs)
Saeed Anwar 62 (67) Robert Kennedy 1/32 (5 overs)		Stephen Fleming 42 (43) Mushtaq Ahmed 2/32 (10 overs)

Pakistan won by 46 runs Umpires: K.T. Francis and Ian Robinson Player of the match: Saleem Malik (Pak)

17 March Scorecard

Australia  241/7 (50 overs)	v	Sri Lanka 245/3 (46.2 overs)
Mark Taylor 74 (83) Aravinda de Silva 3/42 (9 overs)		Aravinda de Silva 107 (124) Damien Fleming 1/43 (6 overs)

Sri Lanka won by 7 wickets Umpires: Steve Bucknor and David Shepherd Player of the match: Aravinda de Silva (SL)

• 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team
• List of Test cricket grounds
• List of international cricket centuries at Gaddafi Stadium
• List of international five wicket hauls at Gaddafi Stadium
• List of stadiums in Pakistan
• List of sports venues in Lahore
• List of cricket grounds by capacity

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gaddafi Stadium.

• Cricinfo.com ground profile
• List of all Test matches played at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore
• List of all ODI matches played at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore
• Google Maps satellite photo of Gaddafi Stadium