BUreau Report
Lahore: After successful completion of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy in Karachi in COVID-19 times, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is up with their last domestic season on 2020-21.
Pakistan Cup, a 50-overs-format tournament is all set to start in Karachi at three stadiums including State Bank Stadium, UBL Sports Complex, and NBP Sports Complex.
The tournament will be based on a double-league basis with a total of 33 group matches among six teams. State Bank Stadium will host the knock-out stage. Pakistan Television (PTV) will telecast all 13 matches at State Bank Ground including semi-finals and final.
The tournament carries nearly PKR10million in prize money as the PCB continues to incentive top-performers. The tournament winners will bag PKR5million, while the runners-up will pocket PKR2.5million.
The best performers of the tournament – Player of the Tournament, Best Batsman, Best Bowler and Best Wicketkeeper – will equally share PKR1million amongst them and PKR800,000 will be handed to 32 players who receive Man of the Match award in group matches and semi-finals. The Player of the Final will receive PKR35,000.
Complete schedule
08 Jan – Balochistan vs Northern at UBL Sports Complex Karachi, Southern Punjab (SP) vs Sindh at State Bank Stadium Karachi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) vs Central Punjab (CP) NBP Sports Complex Karachi
10 Jan – Balochistan vs SP at UBL Sports Complex, KPK vs Sindh at NBP Sports Complex, Northern vs CP at State Bank Stadium
12 Jan – Balochistan vs KPK at State Bank Stadium, CP vs Sindh at NBP Sports Complex, Northern vs SP at UBL Sports Complex
14 Jan – Balochistan vs Sindh at UBL Sports Complex, CP vs SP at State Bank Stadium, KPK vs Northern at NBP Sports Complex
16 Jan – Balochistan vs CP at NBP Sports Complex, Northern vs Sindh at State Bank Stadium, KPK vs SP at UBL Sports Complex
18 Jan – Balochistan vs Sindh at UBL Sports Complex, CP vs SP at NBP Sports Complex, KPK vs Northern at State Bank Stadium
20 Jan – Balochistan vs SP at NBP Sports Complex, KPK vs Sindh at State Bank Stadium, Northern CP at UBL Sports Complex
22 Jan – Balochistan vs CP at State Bank Stadium, Northern vs Sindh at NBP Sports Complex, KPK vs SP at UBL Sports Complex
24 Jan – Balochistan vs Northern at NBP Sports Complex, SP vs Sindh at State Bank Stadium, KPK vs CP at UBL Sports Complex
26 Jan – Balochistan vs KPK at State Bank Stadium, CP vs Sindh at NBP Sports Complex,
Northern vs SP at UBL Sports Complex
Knockout matches
29 Jan – No.1 Team vs No.4 Team at State Bank Stadium
30 Jan – No.2 Team vs No.3 Team at State Bank Stadium
31 Jan – Winner of 1st SF vs Winner of 2nd SF at State Bank Stadium
Meanwhile, the six head coaches have finalised their 16-player squads, in which opportunities have been provided to those young cricketers who have given impressive performances over the course of the 2020-21 domestic season.
After helping his team stage an outstanding comeback in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Hasan Ali will continue to lead Central Punjab, who shared the title with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the final ended in an epic tie. The squad consists all 11 players who played the final along with Ahmed Bashir, Bilal Asif, Rizwan Hussain, Sohaibullah and Tayyab Tahir.
Khalid Usman will remain at helm of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa team and will have hard-hitting top-order batsman Fakhar Zaman, the leading run-scorer in the National T20 Cup, as his deputy. Head coach Abdul Razzaq has retained the in-form batsman Kamran Ghulam and Sajid Ali, the leading run-scorer and wicket-taker of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.
Balochistan will be led by veteran batsman Imran Farhat and he will have wicketkeeper-batsman Bismillah Khan as his vice-captain. Head coach Faisal Iqbal has put his faith in 18-year-old Quetta-born Abdul Wahid Bangalzai, a Pakistan U19 player, who has had an impressive 2020-21 domestic season. In his most recent outing for his Balochistan, Abdul Wahid was the fourth highest run-getter in the Pakistan Cup for Second XIs with 187 runs in five matches – including a half-century – at 37.40.
Mohammad Masroor, Northern’s interim head coach, has named all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz as the captain of his team. After enjoying resounding success with both bat and ball in the 2020-21 domestic season, which included a century on first-class debut and player of the tournament awards in both one-day and three-day U19 tournaments, Mubasir Khan is in line to make his List A debut as he was named one of the 16 players in the Northern squad.
After finishing the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy at the bottom, Sindh will be eager to stage a comeback. Head coach Basit Ali has named Saud Shakeel the captain of the side. Sixteen-year-old off-spinner Aaliyan Mehmood has been rewarded for his sensational returns in the one-day and three-day U19 tournaments. Aaliyan was the third best bowler in the both tournaments taking 24 wickets 15.67 in one-day and 20 scalps at 25.55 in three-day.
Middle-order batsman Sohaib Maqsood will lead Southern Punjab, the finalists of the National T20 Cup. Southern Punjab’s leading run-scorer in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, in which they finished third, Salman Ali Agha will be Sohaib’s deputy. Their fast bowling department got a shot in the arm following the addition of Aaron Summers, while they have included Mukhtar Ahmed and Waqar Hussain, the top two run-getters of the Pakistan Cup for Second XI teams, who played a vital role in Southern Punjab winning that tournament.
Squads
Balochistan – Imran Farhat (c), Bismillah Khan (vc), Abdul Wahid Bangalzai, Adnan Akmal, Akbar-ur-Rehman, Ali Rafiq, Awais Zia, Ayaz Tasawar, Gohar Faiz, Jalat Khan, Kashif Bhatti, Nazar Hussain, Raza-ul-Hasan, Taimoor Ali, Taj Wali and Umaid Asif
Central Punjab – Hasan Ali (c), Ahmed Bashir, Ahmed Safi Abdullah, Ali Shan (wk), Ali Zaryab, Bilal Asif, Bilawal Iqbal, Muhammad Akhlaq, Mohammad Saad, Qasim Akram, Rizwan Hussain, Saad Nasim, Sohaibullah, Tayyab Tahir, Usman Salahuddin and Waqas Maqsood
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – Khalid Usman (c), Fakhar Zaman (vc), Adil Amin, Arshad Iqbal, Asif Afridi, Imran Khan Snr, Irfanullah Shah, Israrullah, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Mohsin, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Musadiq Ahmed, Rehan Afridi (wk), Sahibzada Farhan, Sajid Khan and Usman Shinwari
Northern – Mohammad Nawaz (c), Aamer Jamal, Ali Imran, Asif Ali, Athar Mehmood, Faizan Riaz, Hammad Azam, Jamal Anwar, Mubasir Khan, Muhammad Ismail, Nasir Nawaz, Nauman Ali, Salman Irshad, Sohail Tanvir, Taimoor Sultan and Umar Amin
Sindh – Saud Shakeel (c), Aaliyan Mahmood, Abrar Ahmed, Anwar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Ghulam Mudassar, Hassan Khan, Khurram Manzoor, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Asghar, Mohammad Azam Khan, Mohammad Umar, Omair Bin Yousaf, Saad Ali, Shahnawaz Dhani and Sharjeel Khan
Southern Punjab – Sohaib Maqsood (c), Salman Ali Agha (vc), Aamer Yamin, Aaron Summers, Ali Shafiq, Mohammad Ilyas, Muhammad Imran, Mukhtar Ahmed, Rahat Ali, Saif Badar, Umar Khan, Umar Siddiq Khan, Waqar Hussain, Zahid Mahmood, Zain Abbas and Zeeshan Ashraf
