LAHORE: Just a few days before the start of the President’s Trophy, Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) pulled out from the contest on Tuesday, while the Higher Education Commission outfit is still going through trials to select their final squad for the said event.

“Yes, the SSGC [team] have pulled out from the contest [President’s Trophy], and it will definitely disturb the schedule already prepared for the event,” a PCB spokesman told Dawn on Tuesday.

The President’s Trophy first-class event is scheduled to be held from Dec 16, 2023 to Jan 30, 2024 in Karachi.

“The SSGC Board did not approve the participation of its team at the final moment,” the spokesman added.

When asked if any PCB rule implies a penalty on the SSGC for their very late decision to withdraw the team, the spokesman said there is no such rule.

Meanwhile, HEC’s final trials are being held in Karachi on Thursday (today) — against the promise it had made with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) of handing over their team on Wednesday.

Dawn has learnt that the HEC, which held one part of the trials for Punjab and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Lahore on Sunday, selected ten boys from both the regions. These probables left for Karachi on Wednesday to appear in the final trials scheduled for Thursday.

Moreover, the HEC could not arrange its own team of selectors, and instead hired the services of PCB coaches.

In Lahore, the trials were conducted by PCB coaches Shahid Anwar and Bilal Ahmad while in Karachi another PCB coach Iqbal Imam will supervise the trials.

The PCB spokesman, showing unawareness about HEC’s final programme of trials, said the HEC had confirmed the PCB of handing over the team by Dec 13.

This President’s Trophy will be the first event featuring departments, which were reinstated after restoration of the 2014 PCB constitution last year.

Interestingly under the 2014 constitution, eight regional and as many departmental teams are requ­ired to participating in the first-class tournament.

However, the letter of participation was sent to only six departments — Khan Research Laboratory (KRL), State Bank of Pakistan, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited, SSGC, Wapda and PTV — by the PCB last month.

And now after the last-minute withdrawal of SSGC, the President’s Trophy will only have five departmental teams.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2023