Moin, Hasan named Karachi skippers for Quaid Trophy
By Our Sports Reporter
KARACHI, Oct 4: Moin Khan, the former Pakistan skipper, was named on Tuesday to lead Karachi Harbour in the Silver League of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National cricket championship which starts later this month.
The 34-year-old never-say-die wicket-keeper/batsman, who played the last of his 69 Tests against Sri Lanka in Faisalabad just under a year ago, must be looking forward to new domestic season with renewed vigour in a bid to reclaim his Pakistan spot.
Hasan Raza, the 23-year-old Test discard, has been entrusted with the responsibility of captaining Karachi Urban in the Gold League phase of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy.
The foremost task that lies ahead of Moin is to help Karachi Harbour win the Silver League segment of the prestigious championship so that the city qualifies for the more lucrative Gold League in 2006-07 season.
The Quaid-i-Azam Trophy is slated to begin from Oct 16 with Gold League carrying a record prize-money of Rs1,100,000 and the Silver League half of that amount plus win bonus for the champions of both segments.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) also announced promising batsmen Waqas Haroon and Rameez Raja as skippers of Karachi Harbour and Karachi Urban, respectively for the Inter-regional under-19 national cricket championships that start from Oct 11 with one-day event, followed by three-day tournament two days later.
The PCB, for some reasons, has scrapped the Level-II tournament after a one-off experiment last season.
This tournament, which had replaced the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Grade-II non-first-class event, used to accommodate a number of budding players who were unable to make the grade for other national level tournaments.
Meanwhile, the Karachi City Cricket Association has advised all selected players to report to their respective managers on Wednesday at the National Stadium at 1.00pm.
SQUADS:
Quaid-i-Azam Trophy (Gold League):
Karachi Urban: Hasan Raza (captain), Naumanullah (vice-captain), Shadab Kabir, Khurram Manzoor, Farhan Adil, Maisam Hasnain, Mohammad Farrukh, Ahmer Saeed, Aminur Rahman (wicket-keeper), Tahir Khan, Tanvir Ahmed, Nasir Khan, Tabish Khan, Rizwan Saeed, Azam Hussain.
Reserves: Ahmed Zeeshan Malik (wicket-keeper), Ariz Kamal, Saeed Khan, Rizwan Qureshi, Wasim Naeem.