Daily Times

RAWALPINDI: Punjab will take on Balochistan in the opening contest of the Pakistan Cup One-day Tournament starting at the Pindi Cricket Stadium here from Sunday (today). Punjab, who were defeated by Younus Khan-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by 151 runs in the final of the inaugural competition staged at Faisalabad’s Iqbal Stadium last year, will be led by out-of-favour Pakistan batsman Umar Akmal. The squads for the national tournament were unveiled on March 21 after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) held the player draft process. Changes will be obviously made since a number of players picked for the Pakistan Cup won’t be competing because of national duty.

Fakhar Zaman, who made his international debut during Pakistan’s 3-1 triumph in the T20series against West Indies recently, is slated to captain Balochistan this year after being adjudged man-of the-match for his title-winning innings of 115 for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Defending champions Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s 15-man squad, remarkably, does not feature any of the remaining 10 players who played alongside Fakhar in the 2016 event. While Younus, Yasir Shah and Ahmad Shahzad are currently on Test duty in the West Indies, the champions have further lost the services of Shadab Khan after the teenaged leg-spin sensation was picked for the West Indies Tests last week by the national selectors.

Shoaib Malik, who led Punjab in 2016, has been picked by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, who will be skippered by discarded Pakistan wicket-keeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan in the coming tournament. All-rounder Anwar Ali, who seems to have lost the faith of the Inzamamul Haq`s national selection committee, has been drafted in as captain of Sindh while the Federal side has Pakistan limited-overs all-rounder Imad Wasim leading them.

Mohammad Abbas, the seamer from Sialkot who has been the leading wicket-taker during past two first-class seasons, won’t be playing for Federal since he is also part of the Pakistan Test team for the West Indies series which starts from April 21. The winners of the day-night final on April 29 will be richer by Rs2 million with the runners-up set to pocket Rs1 million. Out of the scheduled 11 fixtures, three of them will be all-day matches starting from 10:00am, while remaining eight games would commence at 2:00pm as per announcement.

Pakistan Cup a big opportunity for youngsters: Haroon

Meanwhile, former chief selector Haroon Rasheed believes the domestic 50-over tournament, Pakistan Cup, will provide aspiring youngsters with an opportunity to showcase their skills for a chance to make it to the national team. The tournament, which will end a marquee final on April 29 in Rawalpindi, is featuring household names such as Shoaib Malik, Imad Wasim, Sohail Khan, Umar Akmal, Salman Butt, Fawad Alam, Umar Gul, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Rizwan and Sohaib Maqsood. And Rasheed thinks all youngsters should make use of the chance to perform well against senior and more experienced players.

“One-day cricket is not happening so much in Pakistan at the moment,” Rasheed said. “The frequency of the 50-over game should be increased and more players from our national team should participate in it alongside the youngsters. When the young players play against senior players, they gain more experience and learn a lot.” The 64-year-old said more one-day cricket in the domestic circuit would help players to improve their strike rates, which was a dilemma Pakistan faced at the national level.

“Mickey Arthur has been saying that he wants Pakistan to play modern cricket,” he said. “These tournaments allow all players to perform in home conditions and gain confidence by improving their strike rates, which will eventually help us at the national level.” Pakistan have been lacking the services of power-hitters who can clear boundaries when needed and Rasheed thinks the tournament is a great way to find such batsmen. “Selectors must have made a time table to visit the stadium during the tournament,” he said. “The first thing that they need to do is identify power-hitters. The national team needs players who can clear the field with ease. The quality of cricket has improved since T20 format gained popularity. Players can now play with strike rates of over 100 in every format. Thus, the need of the hour is to identify batsmen who can do that for Pakistan. We’ll need such players in the coming years.”

Schedule:

April 16: Punjab vs Balochistan (day-night)

April 17: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa vs Federal (day-night)

April 18: Sindh vs Balochistan (day-night)

April 19: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa vs Punjab(day-night)

April 20: Sindh vs Federal (day-night)

April 21: Ret day

April 22: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa vs Balochistan (day)

April 23: Punjab vs Federal (day)

April 24: Rest day

April 25: Sindh vs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (day)

April 26: Balochistan vs Federal (day-night)

April 27: Sindh vs Punjab (day-night)

April 28: Rest day

April 29: Final (day-night)