After the successful completion of the National T20 and Cricket Associations T20, the 2022-23 season enters into next phase with two red-ball tournaments – the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy and Cricket Associations Championship – beginning from Tuesday, 27 September. The squads for both tournaments have been finalised by national men’s chief selector, Muhammad Wasim, in consultation with the six Cricket Associations. Yasir Shah, Azhar Ali, Khalid Usman, Umar Amin, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Hasan Ali will lead Balochistan, Central Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Northern, Sindh and Southern Punjab in the two-month Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, in which each team will play the other twice in the 10-round group stage. The first five round matches will be played at the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium, Abbottabad, Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad and Rawalpindi’s Pindi Cricket Stadium.

Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium and Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan along with Abbottabad’s and Rawalpindi’s stadiums will be part of the remaining five round matches. The final of the tournament will be played from 26 to 30 November. The venue for the final will be announced in due course. The PCB that has recently increased the match fees for its players featuring in the domestic cricket as part of its efforts to incentivise and reward top- performing cricketers, has put PKR17million on offer for the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy with the champion side grabbing PKR10million and runner-up bagging PKR5million. The top-performers – player of the tournament, best batter, best bowler and best wicketkeeper – will pocket PKR500,000 each. The player of the final will be awarded PKR50,000. The first eight-round matches from Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi will be captured by nine High-Definition cameras and beamed across the globe through PCB’s official YouTube channel.

The live-stream schedule for the last two rounds will be shared in due course, while the final will be televised on PTV Sports. The defending champions Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will take on Balochistan at the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium, Abbottabad in their opening match of the tournament. Meanwhile, Cricket Associations Championship, in which the second XI sides of the six Cricket Associations feature, will also begin from 27 September and will be played on the double round robin basis. In order to bring more competitiveness, the PCB, has introduced four-day matches instead of the usual three-day for the tournament. The matches will be played from 27 September to 23 November at different venues of Karachi, while Bugti Stadium in Quetta will host three matches from sixth to eight round. Sindh – the defending champions will take on Central Punjab at the UBL Sports Complex, Karachi in their opening round match.

Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2022-23 squads: Balochistan – Yasir Shah (c), Azeem Ghumman, Haris Sohail, Abdul Wahid Bangalzai, Akif Javed, Ali Waqas, Ammad Butt, Asad Shafiq, Ayyaz Tassawar, Haseebullah, Hussain Talat, Imran Butt, Kashif Bhatti, Khurram Shehzad and Taj Wali Central Punjab – Azhar Ali (c), Aamir Yameen, Abdullah Shafiq, Abid Ali, Ahmed Daniyal, Ahmed Shahzad, Ali Shan, Hunain Shah, Muhammad Ali, Muhammad Saad, Qasim Akram, Tayyab Tahir, Umaid Asif, Usama Mir and Waqas Maqsood Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – Khalid Usman (c), Ashfaq Ahmed, Adil Amin, Arshad Iqbal, Arshad Ullah, Ihsanullah, Imran Khan Snr, Irfanullah Shah, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Sarwar Afridi, Nabi Gul, Rehan Afridi, Sahibzada Farhan, Sajid Khan and Waqar Ahmed Northern – Umar Amin (c), Abdul Faseh, Ather Mehmood, Faizan Riaz, Kashif Ali, Mehran Mumtaz, Mubasir Khan, Muhammad Huraira, Musa Khan, Nauman Ali, Rohail Nazir, Sarmad Bhatti, Umer Waheed, Waqas Ahmed and Zeeshan Malik Sindh – Sarfaraz Ahmed (c), Abrar Ahmed, Asif Mehmood, Fawad Alam, Ghulam Mudassar, Khurram Manzoor, Mir Hamza, Muhammad Aasghar, Muhammad Umar, Omair Bin Yousuf, Saad Khan, Saim Ayub, Saud Shakeel,

Syed Faraz Ali and Zahid Mahmood Southern Punjab – Hasan Ali (c), Ahmed Bashir, Ali Usman, Hassan Khan, Imran Rafiq, Maqbool Ahmad, Muhammad Ilyas, Muhammad Imran Randhawa, Salman Ali Agha, Sameen Gull, Sharoon Siraj, Umer Siddique, Usman Salahuddin, Yousaf Baber and Zain Abbas Cricket Associations Championship 2022-23 squads: Balochistan – Bismillah Khan (c), Aftab Ahmed, Fahad Iqbal, Gohar Faiz, Hazrat Wali, Jalat Khan, Muhammad Ibrahim Snr., Muhammad Junaid, Muhammad Shahid, Najeebullah Achakzai, Nasir Khan, Raza-ul Hassan, Shehbaz Khan, Taimur Ali and Tariq Jameel Central Punjab – Saif Badar (c), Abdul Sammad, Ahmed Safi Abdullah, Ali Shafiq, Ali Zaryab, Ameer Hamza, Bilal Asif, Bilawal Iqbal, Fahad Munir, Imran Dogar, Irfan Khan Niazi, Muhammad Waheed, Nisar Ahmed, Rizwan Hussain and Umar Akmal Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – Israrullah (c), Adil Naz, Amir Azmat, Maaz Ahmed Sadaqat, Maaz Khan, Mehran Ibrahim, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohsin Khan, Muhammad Bilal, Muhammad Imran, Niaz Khan, Saqib Jamil, Usman Tariq, Zeeshan Khan and Zubair Khan Northern – Umair Masood (c), Ali Imran, Ali Sarfraz, Aqib Liaqat, Hassan Raza, Mohammad Arham, Mohammad Ismail, Munir Riaz, Nasir Nawaz, Shadab Majeed, Syed Aqib Shah, Taimur Sultan, Umar Khan, Zaman Khan and Ziad Khan Sindh – Hassan Mohsin (c), Ammad Alam, Arish Ali Khan, Asif Ali Jnr, Danish Aziz, Junaid Ilyas, Kashif Iqbal, Majid Asghar, Mohammad Taha, Muhammad Ali Khan, Muhammad Hassan, Muhammad Suleman, Rameez Aziz, Shehzar Mohammad and Tabish Khan Southern Punjab – Moinuddin (c), Abdul Rehman Muzammil, Faisal Akram, Humayun Altaf, Majid Ali, Mohammad Sadaqat, Muhammad Jahangir, Muhammad Junaid Awan, Muhammad Shehzad, Muhammad Umair, Rahat Ali, Rameez Alam, Tahir Hussain, Waqar Hussain and Zeeshan Ashraf.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP