Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi: Excitement mounted for Pakistani cricket fans as the South Asian country prepares to host its first major multi-country cricket tournament in nearly 30 years on Feb. 19. 

Pakistan is hoping hosting the tournament will help erase worries of instability in the country and restore confidence in it as a tourism and investment destination.

Street cricketers in Karachi and Lahore said they were excited about the tournament being held in their backyard.

The Champions Trophy will be the first major tournament to be held in Pakistan since 1996 and will feature the home side and teams from New Zealand, England, Australia, Afghanistan, South Africa, Bangladesh and India.

All have agreed to play in Pakistan except India, which will play its matches in Dubai, including its encounter with Pakistan, the latest in a storied rivalry.

Cricket is a national passion in the countries of South Asia and a major money-spinner in neighboring India.

With fans from the participating countries expected to flock to Pakistan in large numbers, the tournament promises to stabilize Pakistan’s shaky image. However, the partial absence of arch-rivals India means it’s not a full diplomatic success.

The countries have fought three wars since their bloody partition following independence from Britain in 1947.

Their intense rivalry has meant cricket matches between the two are among the most watched sporting contests in the world but they only play each other at multi-nation events.

Meanwhile, cricket fans throughout Pakistan have snatched up Champions Trophy T-shirts as they prepare to watch the tournament.

The Champions Trophy, which kicks off on February 19, comes to Pakistan as the country battles two insurgencies and a political crisis that has sent its former prime minister and greatest cricket hero, Imran Khan, to jail.

But the government and Pakistan’s cricket board believe the elite tournament of one-day games featuring the top eight teams in the world presents one of the most potent image-building opportunities in decades.

Pakistan hosted cricket’s one-day international World Cup as defending champions in 1996 during a period of optimism about sports in the country.

The national team had triumphed in the previous edition under the leadership of Khan, who is now behind bars on corruption charges after falling out with the powerful military, which denies interfering in politics.