KARACHI: With the national cricket team currently away on Test tour of Ireland and England and its next one-day assignment being a five-match series against Zimbabwe in July, there will be a lot at stake in the Pakistan Cup that starts in Faisalabad from Wednesday afternoon.

The 11-match competition — which is being staged for the third consecutive year at the Iqbal Stadium — will be keenly monitored by the national selection committee with an eye on next year’s ICC World Cup in England as Punjab prepare to take on Balochistan in the opening fixture at 2:30pm.

Balochistan lost a thrilling day/night final to Federal Areas last year on the last ball by a solitary wicket despite piling up 323-9 upfront. That title-decider provided a big contrast to the corresponding fixture in the inaugural tournament when Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had trounced Punjab by a convincing margin of 151 runs.

Realistically speaking, all five teams appear to be quite balanced on paper since a player-draft system was employed when the selections were being done and many of the top stars placed in a different outfit rather than their own province. That is why the Lahore-based Kamran Akmal has been nominated to lead Federal Areas in place of the still recuperating Pakistan all-rounder Imad Wasim, who lives in Islamabad.

Likewise Umar Amin, who hails from Rawalpindi, would be captaining Sindh with Karachi’s Fawad Lam as his vice-captain. Mohammad Hafeez will skipper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while Shoaib Malik has been announced to captain Punjab this time. Ahmed Shehzad, on the other hand, has been given the task to lead Balochistan, who were led by Fakhar Zaman last year.

While finalizing the teams, several prominent cricketers were relegated to the list of ‘reserves’. The most glaring omission is that of discarded Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Talha and his Faisalabad team-mate Khurram Shehzad as well as the spin trio of Zafar Gohar, Kamran Ghulam and Khalid Usman.

Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt, who was inexplicably sidelined by the Lahore Region Cricket Association for the National Regional One-day Cup earlier this year, however makes a welcome return as member of the Sindh squad.

This tournament usually throws up new stars who could be the next ones to be knocking on the doors of Pakistan cricket.

Squads:

BALOCHISTAN: Ahmed Shehzad (captain), Mohammad Nawaz (vice-captain), Rizwan Hussain, Rameez Raja Jr, Khushdil Shah, Akbar-ur-Rehman, Faizan Riaz, Bismillah Khan, Rohail Nazir, Mohammad Irfan (Fata), Sohail Tanvir, Anwar Ali, Mir Hamza, Umar Gul, Shaheen Shah Afridi.

FEDERAL AREAS: Kamran Akmal (captain), Sohaib Maqsood (vice-captain), Awais Zia, Abid Ali, Saad Nasim, Hussain Talat, Agha Salman, Raza Ali Dar, Ashiq Ali, Raza Hasan, Amad Butt, Waqas Maqsood, Usman Khan Shinwari, Umaid Asif.

KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA: Mohammad Hafeez (captain), Shan Masood (vice-captain), Khurram Manzoor, Israrullah, Umar Akmal, Mohammad Saad, Adil Amin, Hassaan Khan, Mohammad Irfan Jr, Hammad Azam, Zia-ul-Haq, Sameen Gul, Sadaf Hussain, Mohammad Hasan.

PUNJAB: Shoaib Malik (captain), Mohammad Rizwan (vice-captain), Sahibzada Farhan, Zain Abbas, Abdul Samad, Asif Ali, Shahid Yousuf, Ashfaq Ahmed, Sohail Akhtar, Usama Mir, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Imran Khan, Mohammad Sami, Wahab Riaz, Abdul Rehman Muzammil.

SINDH: Umar Amin (captain), Fawad Alam (vice-captain), Salman Butt, Gohar Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Danish Aziz, Ramiz Aziz, Adnan Akmal, Mohammad Asghar, Bilal Asif, Aamir Yamin, Junaid Khan, Sohail Khan, Taj Wali, Mohammad Irfan.

Reserves:

Batsmen: Khurram Shehzad, Ali Asad, Ahsan Ali, Daniyal Rajput, Mohammad Mohsin, Naved Malik, Raees Ahmed, Salman Afridi, Tayyab Tahir, Rameez Raja (Quetta).

All-rounders: Mohammad Imran, Bilawal Iqbal, Mohammad Junaid.

Wicket-keepers: Ali Shan, Umair Masood, Junaid Ali.

Fast bowlers: Mohammad Talha, Adnan Ghaus, Ahmed Bashir, Shehzad Azam Rana, Mohammad Musa Khan, Mohammad Irfan Jr, Azizullah, Mohammad Waqas, Ali Shafiq, Gohar Faiz.

Spinners: Zafar Gohar, Kamran Ghulam, Qaiser Ashraf, Adnan Rasool, Khalid Usman, Zulfiqar Babar Ahmed Safi.

Schedule:

April 25: Punjab vs Balochistan.

April 26: Federal Areas vs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

April 27: Sindh vs Balochistan.

April 28: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa vs Punjab.

April 29: Sindh vs Federal Areas.

April 30: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa vs Balochistan.

May 1: Punjab vs Federal Areas.

May 2: Sindh vs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

May 3: Balochistan vs Federal Areas.

May 4: Sindh vs Punjab.

May 5: Rest day.

May 6: Final.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2018