KARACHI, March 24: The availability of top stars promises close matches in the final round of the National One-day Cricket Championship that gets under way from Tuesday at three centres.

The players were released from the training camp at Lahore Sunday soon after the Pakistan squad for Sharjah Cup was announced.

PIA, the former one-day champions, who were deprived of 10 players, are relief that they can now field their best team in their Group-I fixture against newcomers Sui Gas at National Stadium.

Habib Bank will welcome five of their national players for the game against the equally formidable Allied Bank. This match at UBL Sports Complex is the pick of the opening round matches.

The Group-II ties are scheduled for Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad, where National Bank face Pakistan Customs while ADBP take on Wapda at Sheikhupura Stadium.

Ardent fans have a golden chance of watching Wasim Akram, Abdul Razzaq, Saqlain Mushtaq, Azhar Mahmood, Shahid Afridi, Rashid Latif, Faisal Iqbal, Younis Khan, Yousuf Youhana in the Karachi matches.

Likewise, Pakistan skipper Waqar Younis, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Sami are the star attractions when they turn out for National Bank.

Barring Shoaib Akhtar and Misbah-ul-Haq, who represent KRL, all the other members of the Sharjah-bound squad will surely benefit from match practice in the forthcoming games.

The Pakistan Cricket Board, despite being unable to find sponsorship, has put up Rs 330,000 in prize money with the winners to get Rs 100,000 and the runners-up 60,000.

The losing semifinalists will each receive Rs 25,000. There are other incentives for the cricketers as well in terms of individual awards in all 12 final round matches, the semifinals (scheduled for April 2) and the final on April 4.

The championship, which began March 8, featured 28 teams in four pools of seven each. The 84-match preliminary rounds concluded on March 20 with the top two teams from each pool qualifying for the second phase of the tournament.

TUESDAY’S SCHEDULE (March 26):