Fickle PCB shifts National T20 Cup back to Peshawar

Published March 5, 2026 Updated March 5, 2026 10:52am

LAHORE: It seems that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) remains extremely confused on where to stage the National T20 Cup as it again shifted the tournament on Wednesday, this time from Multan to Peshawar, the original venue of the event.

This is the third time the venue for the 10-team event was changed in recent days. The matches, according to the latest change, will be played at the Imran Khan Stadium, the new name of Peshawar’s Arbab Niaz Stadium.

On Tuesday, when four participating teams following their travel plan reached Rawalpindi, where the tournament had been moved from Peshawar, they were asked by the PCB to move to Multan, citing that the said event had been shifted there.

As a result, the luggage of the teams was transported to Multan late Tuesday night. However, sources close to the situation told Dawn that now the luggage is returning to Peshawar from Multan.

Earlier, the tournament was to start from March 5 but now due to logistical issues, it will commence from March 7.

Interestingly, HBL Pakistan Super League chief executive Salman Naseer, during a press conference in Lahore on Tuesday, said that the Peshawar venue was not fully prepared to host matches due to some technical issues, including some related to the ground, no match of the PSL-11 will be held there.

Surprisingly, now a national-level tournament has been shifted to Peshawar.

Ten regional teams, divided into two groups, are going to participate in the National T20 Cup.

Lahore Whites, Peshawar, Faisalabad, Karachi Whites and Bahawalpur are included in Group ‘A’ while Group ‘B’ contains Lahore Blues, Sialkot, Multan, Abbottabad and Karachi Blues.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2026

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