LAHORE: Tainted player Salman Butt on Tuesday was among the players picked in the Pakistan Cup one-day tournament player-draft ceremony here while tainted pacer Mohammad Asif remained unpicked as all five outfits competing in the event were finalised.

The premier 50-over tournament rolls into action in Faisalabad on April 19.

While Punjab will be led by Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed has been named as captain of Sindh, ODI skipper Azhar Ali as captain of Balochistan, veteran Test batsman Younis Khan as skipper of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with the Federal Areas being led by Misbah-ul-Haq.

All five captains participated in the draft round to select players for their teams. While Punjab picked Salman, scorer of 536 runs in the current season, among its leading players, there were no takers for Asif who bagged only seven wickets in his seven matches this season. The duo had featured for Wapda as team-mates during the National One-Day Cup held earlier this year.

Amir, who returned to international cricket early this year, was drafted in by Sindh outfit.

However, the drafting ceremony was not controversy-free with Arsal Shiekh, the son of PCB official Shakil Shiekh, getting inducted into the Federal Areas outfit led by Test captain Misbah. The drafting ceremony saw quite a rumpus when some journalists raised ‘merit’ slogans at the time of Arsal’s induction into the Federal Areas outfit.

Interestingly, Misbah who apart from leading the Federal Areas team is one of the members on the selection panel for picking the team, left the hall just minutes before Arsal was to be picked.

It must be pointed out that many fine performers of the last National One-day Cup such as pacers Sadaf Hussain (20 wickets), batsmen Usman Salahuddin (469 runs) and Raza Ali Dar (293 runs) among many others were ignored by the teams.

APP adds: Speaking about this new initiative, Chairman Shaharyar Khan said: “Our aim is to ensure that our domesic cricket becomes more competitive and Pakistan Cup 2016 is a key step on this journey. Top cricketers of Pakistan will take part in this tournament and the youngsters will have the perfect opportunity to learn from their seniors.”

The pick order for the draft was determined through a draw conducted by Chairman Executive Committee Najam Sethi. “After successfully organizing PSL, we need to further improve our domestic cricket. Player remunerations for this tournament have been increased by 100% and introducing the player draft in a domestic One Day tournament has generated immense interest from the public,” he stated.

Teams:

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, Awais Khan, Mohammad Hassan, and Imran Khan (from U-19).

Sindh: Sarfraz Ahmad (captain), Mohammad Aamir, Sohail Khan, Imad Wasim, Sohaib Maqsood, Khalid Latif, Khurram Manzoor, Fawad Alam, Sami Aslam, Anwar Ali, Bilal Asif, Ruman Raees, M Waqas, Saad Ali, and Hassan Khan (U-19).

Punjab: Shoaib Malik (captain), Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Butt, Asad Shafiq, Zulifqar Babar, Amir Yamin, Saad Nasim, Ehsan Adil, Shan Masood, Asif Ali, Amad Butt, Akbar-ur-Rehman, Adnan Ghaus, Kashif Bhatti, Saif Badar (U-19).

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: Younis Khan (captain), Muhammad Asghar, Fakhar Zaman, Yasir Shah, Ahmad Shahzad, Azizullah, Faheem Ashraf, Rameez Aziz, Rahat Ali, Naveed Yasin, Bismillah Khan, Zohaib Khan, Musaddiq Ahmed, Sadaf Mehdi, and Hayatullah (U-19).

Federal Areas: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Kamran Akmal, Sharjeel Khan, Imran Khalid, M Sami, Iftikhar Ahmed, Hassan Ali, M Irfan, Nasir Jamshed, Asif Zakir, Zafar Gohar, Hammad Azam, Sarmad Bhatti, M Abbas, Arsal Sheikh (U-19).

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2016