Daily Times

PCB Director High-Performance, Tournament Director Champions One Day Cup Nadeem Khan has said that the domestic competitions like the Champions Cup are not designed to accommodate international series.

Defending the timing of Champions One Day Cup between two test series, he told PCB Digital on Saturday that all the boards around the world have their set domestic structures and the tournaments take place according to respective scheduled windows instead of altering them in light of the upcoming home international assignments, adding that the Champions Cup was already in the pipeline since April.

The former off-spinner said the players in this day and age are highly motivated professionals and and can easily adjust to different formats, adding that the sandwiching of One Day Cup between two test series should not be a huge concern. He said presence of national cricketers will add quality to the first major domestic tournament of the 2024-25 season.

About salient features and goals of the domestic competition, Nadeem Khan said the Champions One Day Cup has been envisaged to discover the best domestic talent in order to bridge the gap between domestic and international cricket.

The Tournament Director said the Champions One-Day Cup will help us unearth future white-ball prospects for the Pakistan’s white-ball teams, also marking the start of the preparation for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025.

“Having the Champions Cup in September will allow us to give an extended opportunity to the top performers of this tournament in international cricket before the mega-event commences home,” he added.

He expressed the hope that with all the national players taking part in the Champions One-Day Cup, the intensity and quality of this domestic tournament will only go up and help us determine the emerging players who can thrive and perform under pressure when they represent Pakistan in future.

Nadeem Khan further said the all-format Champions Cup will provide the PCB with a large pool of players to replace the national cricketers in case of injuries or unavailability

The inaugural Champions One-Day Cup is set to take place at the Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad from 12-29 September. Team mentors of the five sides include Misbah-ul-Haq (Wolves), Saqlain Mushtaq (Panthers), Sarfaraz Ahmed (Dolphins), Shoaib Malik (Stallions) and Waqar Younis (Lions), while Mohammad Rizwan, Shadab Khan, Saud Shakeel, Muhammad Haris and Shaheen Shah Afridi have been appointed of the five sides.

The five high-profile mentors understand the requirements of the international cricket and they will prepare the players accordingly in the domestic competitions. For the first time, all the five teams have been allocated their respective regional academies so that the players can train and work on their skills throughout the year. The best thing about the concept is the teams have highly experienced and dedicated mentors who will not only manage the men’s Champions teams but will also be involved at the women’s and age-group cricket, which will have positive effects on Pakistan cricket.

The Pakistan white-ball head coach Gary Kirsten will be arriving on 12 September to witness the entire Champions One-Day Cup and it will surely be exciting for him to work in the domestic circuit in order to look into the young talent with an eye on the upcoming white-ball assignments in Australia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, followed by the home tri-national series and the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.