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Rachin Ravindra got serious injuries while fielding in the Tri-series match against Pakistan at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium. The stadium is one of the three venues which will host matches for the upcoming Champions Trophy. Ravindra, attempting to catch the ball, was struck in the face, that resulted in visible bleeding.
He had to be removed from the field immediately due to the severe pain of his injury. Some major figures in Pakistan cricket suggested that the newly installed LED lights could have caused visibility problems for Ravindra. The New Zealand cricket team has given the confirmation that Ravindra suffered lacerations on his forehead and received stitches.
Pakistan star Ahmad Shehzad strongly criticized the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), claiming the 3 venues for the Champions Trophy were not completely prepared.
"The way Rachin was hit on the face, this is a very serious part. The player safety is of utmost significance. Is this how you spend a budget of 13 arab PKR? It takes 2 arab to construct a new stadium. Three stadiums aren't even ready yet. From the outside, everything looks good and glittery.
The ones that are ready, were built in record time. But there are certain things such as this floodlight issues, the fact that the Karachi Stadium isn't ready yet. There are problems in the infrastructure of the Rawalpindi Stadium, which will now apparently take 6-8 more months to be resolved. The Gaddafi Stadium looks good but the lights look dicey," Ahmad Shehzad was quoted saying this..
Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt, anyhow, defended the floodlights, saying that the issue did not lie with the equipment but with Ravindra’s misjudgment.
"There's no point trying to make people understand when they don't want to. It's irrelevant. These are some of the latest LED lights that have been installed, so these are fine. When New Zealand players hit sixes off deliveries bowled at close to 150 kph, were the lights not working then? A player who was standing 70 meters away failed to take the catch because of his misjudgment. He is a fine fielder, but perhaps his leg slipped, and he got hurt," Butt stated this on a local news channel.
The Champions Trophy 2025 will start on February 19 with the opening match between Pakistan & New Zealand.