The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has confirmed the introduction of three new competitions for the upcoming domestic season, which will now run for almost a year - starting in September 2024 and ending in August 2025. A five-team Champions tournament - as reported by ESPNcricinfo in June - will be played across formats aiming to "bridge the gap between domestic and international cricket" according to a PCB release. The five teams - Dolphins, Lions, Panthers, Stallions and Wolves - will compete in the Champions One-Day Cup from September 1 to 29, a Champions T20 Cup from December 21 to January 2, and in the Champions Pentagular (first-class cricket) from May 28 to August 5. As a result of these additions, the PCB will now hold three first-class tournaments (the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy and President's Trophy being the others), two List-A tournaments (the President's Cup being the other) and three T20 competitions (National T20 Cup and the PSL being the others) taking the count of senior men's matches up from 203 to 261. "Our current standings - sixth in Tests, fourth in ODIs and seventh in T20Is - do not reflect the true potential and legacy of Pakistan cricket," PCB chair Mohsin Naqvi said.

"To restore our rightful place at the top of world cricket, we must innovate and strategically enhance, expand and strengthen our domestic structure. The introduction of the three Champions tournaments is a bold step in this direction. "The Champions tournaments will bring together our most talented and consistent performers from domestic cricket with our centrally-contracted players, creating an environment that mirrors the intensity of international cricket." The Champions tournaments will be played by around 150 of the country's top players, though details of the selection process are yet to be revealed. But the plans have the approval of Waqar Younis, the new advisor to the chair on cricket affairs, who flanked Naqvi during a press conference in Lahore to announce the tournaments. Younis will be in charge of the cricketing side of matters within the board, in a wide-ranging role similar to that of Rob Key's at the ECB. Each of the five teams will have, potentially an owner, as well as a mentor.

That will be aside from regular coaching staff, from a head coach down to an analyst and a media manager. Each team will also have a dedicated high-performance centre in Faisalabad, Karachi, Lahore, Multan and Sialkot. The PCB has also raised the contracts for domestic players with PKR 550,000 for Category 1, PKR 400,000 for Category 2 and PKR 250,000 for Category 3. The contracts in 2023-24 that were offered were PKR 300,000 for Category A+, PKR 200,000 for Category A, PKR 185,000 for Category B, PKR170,000 for Category C, PKR150,000 for Category D, PKR100,000 for Category E, and PKR50,000 for Category F. The match fees for domestic games has also been increased from PKR 40,000 in white-ball format to PKR 125,000 in 50-over cricket, PKR 100,000 in T20 cricket and from PKR 80,000 to PKR 200,000 in red-ball cricket.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan