QUETTA: As many as 24 players were shortlisted at the end of day one of Quetta Gladiators U-23 Talent Hunt Programme ‘Your Gateway to Stardom’ at the Bugti Stadium here.

More than 600 players of Quetta turned up at the trials since the opening day was limited for the locals while players of other districts and cities will appear on days two and three.

The selection committee for the initial phase is headed by former first-class cricketer Zafar Ahmed while local selectors include Aqil Baloch, Javed Iqbal and Abdul Quddoos who will shortlist around 40-50 players in the first phase — which consist of trials in Quetta and Hub.

Zafar, who is regularly involved in Karachi’s selection process, said that he was surprised to see so many players at the start of the programme.

“I’m pleasantly surprised with the talent I saw in Quetta on day one as I wasn’t expecting good players in such quantity,” Zafar said. “There are two fast-bowlers who in my opinion could bowl around 140 kph which is heartening because they can be real assets in future for Quetta, Quetta Gladiators and Pakistan.”

Zafar further added that players from under-16 and under-19 categories have also been initially selected because the youngsters have shown promise.

Meanwhile, most of the players were of the view that this talent hunt has provided them a great platform and that players of Quetta and Balochistan can say now there is Quetta Gladiators to own them.

They further said that this talent hunt scheme has give real hope to youth of Balochistan because now they can take cricket as a profession.

Players short-listed are: Mohammad Adil, Amanullah, Zubair Mengal, Nawab Khan, Hannan Khan, Saeed Zainul, Izzat Khan, Mukhtar Ahmed, Safiullah, Mohammad Zahir, Baaz Gul, Jamal Khan, Syed Arsalan Shaikh, Syed Ghulam Haider, Saeed Ahmed, Shams, Abrar-ul-Haq, Jahangir Khan, Rashid Baloch, Manzoor Shah, Abdul Wahid, Nasir Khan, Abdul Rehman, Irfan.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2016