Daily Times

LAHORE: The Shoaib Malik-led Punjab side picked up former Pakistan captain Salman Butt while fast bowler Mohammad Asif did not make it to any of the five teams for the upcoming Pakistan Cup 2016 as the players’ draft for the domestic one-day event was held here on Tuesday. Asif, along with Salman and Mohammad Aamir, was convicted after the spot-fixing saga that rocked Pakistan cricket in 2010. Salman and Asif also featured as teammates during the National One-day Cup held earlier this year with the former piling up 536 runs and the latter bagging seven wickets in as many matches. However, fast bowler Aamir made it to the Sindh side which will be captained by newly appointed Pakistan T20 skipper Sarfraz Ahmed. Former T20 captain and star all-rounder Shahid Afridi also remained unpicked. All-rounder Mohammad Hafeez, who is suffering from a knee injury, remained unavailable for selection.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has introduced the revamped domestic one-day tournament, Pakistan Cup, to replace the existing Pentangular Cup. The tournament will be played between five provincial teams, starting April 19 in Faisalabad. The format will remain the same as the Pentangular Cup, but the process of picking players has been altered – the traditional selection process has been replaced with the draft system. It will allow a pre-announced captain and coaches to pick their 15-man squads from a list of 150 cricketers in 15 rounds. There was no reason given for the selection process being changed. The five teams from the five provinces – Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and a team from Federal Capital of Pakistan – will remain the same.

Along with Sarfraz and Malik, captains Younus Khan (KP), Azhar Ali (Balochistan) and Misbahul Haq (Federal Capital) chose 14 players each from a draft which consisted of 150 players. The draft process was also adopted during the teams’ selection for the Pakistan Super League which was held earlier this year. Earlier, the PCB also announced that the match fees in this tournament will be doubled in comparison to a regular domestic one-day game.

In order to promote young cricketers, each team had to pick one regional Under-19 player in their 15-man squad. The Pakistan domestic structure has been inconsistent for decades with changes occurring every two years. Their domestic season starts in August with Grade-II tournaments, and ends with the limited-overs tournaments by March. The PCB had introduced a completely new first-class system in 2015 and the announcement of the Pakistan Cup reflects the varying nature of planning in the domestic set up. It was understood that there were commercial reasons behind the timing of the event. “Our public loves cricket and we are trying to further elevate our product,” Najam Sethi, the chairman of the PCB executive committee, said. “There is greater involvement of senior cricketers with the draft process in place. Players will also receive a 100 percent increase in remuneration and the support staff is very experienced. We are celebrating unity in diversity and I urge the fans to come and watch these matches in the stadium.”

Squads:

Punjab: Shoaib Malik (capt.), Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Butt, Asad Shafiq, Zulfiqar Babar, Amir Yameen, Saad Nasim, Ehsan Adil, Shan Masood, Asif Ali, Ahmad Butt, Akbar-ur-Rehman, Adnan Ghaus, Kashif Bhatti and Saif Badar.

Sindh: Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Mohammad Amir, Sohail Khan, Imad Wasim, Sohaib Maqsood, Khalid Latif, Sami Aslam, Khurram Manzoor, Fawad Alam, Anwar Ali, Bilal Asif, Rumman Raees, Mohammad Waqas, Saad Ali and Hassan Khan.

Khyber Pakhtunkhaw: Younus Khan (captian), Mohammad Asghar, Fakhar Zaman, Yasir Shah, Ahmed Shehzad, Azizullah, Faheem Ashraf, Ramiz Aziz, Rahat Ali, Naveed Yasin, Bismillah Khan, Zohaib Khan, Mussadiq Ahmed, Sadaif Mehdi and Ayatullah.

Balochistan: Azhar Ali (captain), Babar Azam, Mohammad Nawaz, Junaid Khan, Umar Akmal, Usama Mir, Bilawal Bhatti, Shahid Yousuf, Saeed Ajmal, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Ramiz Raja Jr., Mohammad Hassan, Awais Zia and Imran Khan.

Federal Capital: Misbah-ul-Haq (capt.), Kamran Akmal, Sharjeel Khan, Imran Khalid, Mohammad Sami, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Irfan, Nasir Jamshed, Asif Zakir, Hassan Ali, Zafar Gohar, Hammad Azam, Sarmad Bhatti, Mohammad Abbas and Arsal Sheikh.