LAHORE: Several prominent Test and international players will continue playing non-stop cricket at the domestic front — without a single rest day — after ending a hectic tour of South Africa on March 24 as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Thursday announced the schedule of the third Faysal Bank Twenty20 Super Eight tournament.

The national T20 event is being held at the Gaddafi Stadium here from March 26 to 31.

After Pakistan’s tour to South Africa ends with the fifth One-day International in Benoni on coming Sunday the national team will leave for home the next day.The likes of Shahid Afridi (Karachi Dolphins), Mohammad Hafeez (Lahore Lions), Misbah-ul-Haq (Faisalabad Wolves), Younis Khan (Abbottabad Falcons), Shoaib Malik (Sialkot Stallions) and Sohail Tanvir (Rawalpindi Rams) are set to lead their respective teams in the Super Eight event which has no rest day.

PCB’s Director Domestic Operations Zakir Khan vowed that all the players had confirmed their participation for their respective regions.

Contradicting a report that Afridi had decided not to feature in the national T20 contest, Zakir said he had no such information as all the players had confirmed their participation.

According to the PCB official, all efforts would be made to improve the standard of national T20 cricket to bring it at par with the other major cricketing nations.

The teams have been divided into two groups. Three matches will be played every day.

The winners will be honoured with a purse of Rs2.5 million while the runners-up will pocket Rs1 million.

The semi-finals will be played on March 30 and the final on March 31.

This tournament will be the last event of the three-year partnership between the PCB and the Faysal Bank.

Groups:

Group ‘A’: Lahore Lions, Sialkot Stallions, Multan Tigers, Abbottabad Falcons. Group ‘B’: Faisalabad Wolves, Bahawalpur Stags, Rawalpindi Rams, Karachi Dolphins. Matches schedule (all times PST): March 26: Faisalabad Wolves v Bahawalpur Stags (12:00pm); Multan Tigers v Abbottabad Falcons (4:00pm); Lahore Lions v Sialkot Stallions (8:00pm). March 27: Sialkot Stallions v Abbottabad Falcons (12:00pm); Lahore Lions v Multan Tigers (4:00pm); Karachi Dolphins v Rawalpindi Rams (8:00pm).

March 28: Rawalpindi Rams v Bahawalpur Stags (12:00pm); Karachi Dolphins v Faisalabad Wolves (4:00pm); Lahore Lions v Abbottabad Falcons (8:00pm).

March 29: Sialkot Stallions v Multan Tigers (10:00am); Rawalpindi Rams v Faisalabad Wolves (4:00pm); Karachi Dolphins v Bahawalpur Stags (8:00pm).

March 30: First semi-final (4:00pm); second semi-final (8:00pm). March 31: Final (7:00pm).

Squads:

ABBOTTABAD FALCONS: Younis Khan (captain), Yasir Hameed, Junaid Khan, Adnan Raees, Yasir Shah, Ahmed Jamal, Mir Azam, Haroon, Syed Hammad Ali Shah, Sohail Akhtar, Rameez Ahmed, Ikramullah, Sajjad Ali, Khalid Usman, Amjad Waqas, Inam Khan, Fazal-e-Rabi, Babar Khan. Officials: Abid Zaman Khan (manager), Sajjad Akbar (coach).

FAISALABAD WOLVES: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Asif Ali, Ali Waqas, Khurram Shahzad, Zahoor Ahmed, Naved Latif, Mohammad Salman, Waqas Maqsood, Samiullah Khan Niazi, Asad Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Ehsan Adil, Hasan Mahmood, Sabir Hussain, Jehandad, Farrukh Shahzad, Asif Hussain, Imran Khalid. Officials: Tariq Fareed (manager), Naved Anjum (coach).

KARACHI DOLPHINS: Shahid Afridi (captain), Khalid Latif, Khurram Manzoor, Shahzaib Hasan, Fawad Alam, Sarfraz Ahmed, Mohammad Sami, Asad Shafiq, Anwar Ali, Atif Maqbool, Azam Hussain, Fakhar Zaman, Akbar-ur-Rehman, Mir Hamza, Misbah Khan, Sohail Khan, Abdul Ameer, Fawad Khan. Officials: Visal Ansari (manager), Tauseef Ahmed (coach).

RAWALPINDI RAMS: Sohail Tanvir (captain), Babar Naeem, Naveed Malik, Awais Zia, Umar Amin, Yasim Murtaza, Mohammad Nawaz, Hammad Azam, Jamal Anwar, Samiullah, Akhtar Ayub, Umar Waheed, Zahid Mansoor, Nasir Malik, Shoaib Ahmed, Saad Altaf, Yasir Arafat, Adil Gulbahar. Officials: Ameer Ahmed Shah (manager), Sabih Azhar (coach).

MULTAN TIGERS: Sohaib Maqsood (captain), Rahat Ali, Mohammad Irfan, Zulfiqar Babar, Saeed Anwar Jr, Naved Yasin, Rizwan Haider, Adeel Hanif, Kashif Naveed, Rameez Alam, Maqbool Ahmed, Gulraiz Sadaf, Shahbaz Hussain, Aamir Yamin, Shahzad Ahmed, Zeeshan Ashraf, Zain Abbas, Shahab Elahi. Officials: Ijaz Ahmed (manager), Wasim Haider (coach).

SIALKOT STALLIONS: Shoaib Malik (captain), Imran Nazir, Shakeel Ansar, Shahid Yousuf, Mansoor Amjad, Mohammad Ayub Dogar, Faisal Naved, Adeel Malik, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Bilawal Bhatti, Umaid Asif, Abdur Rehman, Raza Hasan, Naved Arif, Rizwan Sultan, Majid Ilyas, Ali Khan, Haris Sohail. Officials: Naeem Akhtar (manager), Ijaz Ahmed Jr (coach).

LAHORE LIONS: Mohammad Hafeez (captain), Nasir Jamshed, Ahmed Shahzad, Umar Akmal, Ali Azmat, Kamran Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Wahab Riaz, Zia-ul-Haq, Mohammad Irfan, Imam-ul-Haq, Tanzeel Altaf, Mohammad Waqas Sr, Adnan Rasool, Sohail Ahmed, Abdul Ghaffar, Farooq Aslam. Officials: Mohammad Nasir (manager), Mohsin Kamal (coach).

BAHAWALPUR STAGS: Bilal Khilji (captain), Hammad Tariq, Faisal Mubashir, Zeeshan-ul-Haq, Moinuddin, Mustansir Hussain, Noman Akram, Ataullah, Mudassar Rai, Ansar Javed, Ahmed Raza, Zeeshan Khalid, Imranullah Aslam, Faisal Elahi, Kamran Hussain, Waqas Khan, Rehan Rafiq, Zaka Rasheed. Officials: Moin Khanzada (manager), Shahid Anwar (coach).