Head coaches of the six Cricket Associations have confirmed their 16-player squads for this month’s National T20 Cup. The squads were finalized from a pool of players, which the head coaches had selected on 28 August.
The teams for the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy and 50-over Pakistan Cup will be announced later.
The First XI National T20 Cup, for the first time, will be held on a double-league basis. The format has been changed keeping in view the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 and to provide the players with more opportunities to stake claims in the national side.
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With the Pakistan Super League 2020 draft to also take place in November, the tournament provides a great opportunity for the country’s best T20 players to impress the team owners with their talent and mettle.
Northern will defend both the First XI and Second XI titles. The First XI matches will be played in Multan (1st round) and Rawalpindi (2nd round, semi-finals, and final) from 30 September to 18 October and Second XI fixtures in Lahore from 1-8 October.
Here are the squads:
Balochistan
First XI
| Haris Sohail (c) | Bismillah Khan (vc, wk), | Akbar-ur-Rehman | Akif Javed |
| Ammad Butt | Awais Zia | Imam-ul-Haq | Imran Butt |
| Kashif Bhatti | Khurram Shahzad | Taimur Khan | Umaid Asif |
| Umar Gul | Usama Mir | Yasir Shah | Imran Farhat |
Player support personnel – Khuda Bux Silaci (manager), Faisal Iqbal (head coach), Wasim Haider (assistant coach), Ajab Gul Khan (trainer), Arif Shah (physio) and Shakir Khilji (analyst).
Second XI
| Azeem Ghumman (c) | Jalat Khan (vc) | Abdul Nasir | Abdul Wahid Bangalzai |
| Akhtar Shah | Ayaz Tasawar | Gohar Faiz | Gulraiz Sadaf (wk) |
| Hayat Ullah | Mohammad Ibrahim | Mohammad Junaid Khan | Mohammad Talha |
| Najeebullah Achakzai | Rameez Raja Jnr – Withdrawn | Salahuddin | Taj Wali |
Player Support Personnel – Habib Baloch (coach-cum-manager), Shoaib Khan (assistant coach), Mohammad Hasnain (physio), Mohammad Hussain (trainer) and Waseemuddin (analyst).
Central Punjab
First XI
| Babar Azam (c) | Saad Nasim (vc) | Abdullah Shafiq | Abid Ali |
| Ahmed Bashir | Bilal Asif | Ehsan Adil | Faheem Ashraf |
| Irfan Khan Niazi | Kamran Akmal (wk) | Naseem Shah | Qasim Akram |
| Rizwan Hussain | Sohaibullah | Usman Qadir | Zafar Gohar |
Player Support Personnel – Azhar Zaidi (manager), Shahid Anwar (head coach), Samiullah Niazi (assistant coach), Mohammad Asad (physio), Yasir Mahmood (trainer) and Sajid Yasin (analyst).
Babar will join the squad for the second round matches after finishing his commitments with Somerset.
Second XI
| Nauman Anwar (c) | Raza Ali Dar (vc) | Atiq-ur-Rehman | Aitzaz Habib Khan |
| Bilawal Iqbal | Fahad Usman | Junaid Ali | Kamran Afzal |
| Muhammad Akhlaq | Mohammad Ali | Mohammad Faiq | Mohammad Saad |
| Nisar Ahmed | Suleman Shafqat | Waqas Maqsood | Zubair Khan Lodhi |
Player Support Personnel – Akram Raza (coach-cum-manager), Humayun Farhat (assistant coach), Arshad Javed (trainer), Ubaidullah (physio) and Mahmood Mohyuddin (analyst).
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
First XI
| Mohammad Rizwan (c, wk) | Junaid Khan (vc) | Arshad Iqbal | Asif Afridi |
| Fakhar Zaman | Iftikhar Ahmed | Imran Khan Snr | Mohammad Hafeez |
| Mohammad Haris (wk) | Mohammad Mohsin | Sahibzada Farhan | Shaheen Shah Afridi |
| Shoaib Malik | Usman Khan Shinwari | Wahab Riaz | Zohaib Khan |
Player Support Personnel – Farrukh Zaman (manager), Abdul Razzaq (head coach), Aftab Khan (assistant coach), Imranullah (trainer), Rehan Khalid (physio) and Waleed Ahmed (analyst).
Shaheen is presently representing Hampshire and will be in action for the second round matches.
Second XI
| Mehran Ibrahim (c) | Rehan Afridi (vc, wk) | Adil Amin | Asad Afridi |
| Israrullah | Khalid Usman | Mohammad Amir Khan | Mohammad Arif Shah |
| Mohammad Imran | Mohammad Irfan Khan | Mohammad Mohsin Khan | Mohammad Sarwar Afridi |
| Musaddiq Ahmad | Nabi Gul | Sajid Khan | Sameen Gul |
Player Support Personnel – Riffatullah Mohmand (coach-cum-manager), Mohammad Aslam Qureshi (assistant coach), Ibrar Ahmed (trainer), Sajjad Ali Khan (physio) and Majid Ali Shah (analyst).
Northern
First XI
| Imad Wasim (c) | Shadab Khan (vc) | Ali Imran | Asif Ali |
| Farzan Raja | Haider Ali | Hammad Azam | Haris Rauf |
| Mohammad Amir | Mohammad Nawaz | Musa Khan | Rohail Nazir (wk) |
| Sohail Akhtar | Sohail Tanvir | Umar Amin | Zeeshan Malik |
Player Support Personnel – Afaq Rahim (manager), Mohammad Wasim (head coach), Mohammad Masroor (assistant coach), Ali Sufyan (physio), Mohammad Aslam (trainer) and Mohammad Ahsan Ehsan (analyst).
Imad will be available for the second round matches commencing 9 October in Rawalpindi as he is presently representing Nottinghamshire in the ECB’s Vitality Blast T20 competition.
Second XI
| Nauman Ali (c) | Umair Masood (vc, wk) | Aamer Jamal | Athar Mehmood |
| Faizan Riaz | Mohammad Ismail | Nasir Nawaz | Naved Malik |
| Nihal Mansoor | Raza Hasan | Salman Irshad | Sarmad Bhatti |
| Shiraz Khan | Shoaib Ahmad Minhas | Taimur Sultan | Zaid Alam |
Player Support Personnel – Fahad Masood (coach-cum-manager), Saeed Anwar Jnr (assistant coach), Farrukh Hayat (trainer), Iftikhar (physio) and Mohammad Rizwan Hanif (analyst).
Sindh
First XI
| Sarfaraz Ahmed (c, wk) | Saud Shakeel | Ahsan Ali | Anwar Ali |
| Asad Shafiq | Azam Khan | Danish Aziz | Hassan Khan |
| Khurram Manzoor | Mir Hamza | Mohammad Asghar | Mohammad Hasnain |
| Mohammad Taha | Rumman Raees – Injured | Sharjeel Khan | Sohail Khan |
Player Support Personnel – Rashid Khan (manager), Basit Ali (head coach), Iqbal Imam (assistant coach), Imran Khalil (trainer), Imtiaz Khan (physio) and Mohammad Asim Hussain (analyst).
Second XI
| Fawad Ali (c) | Hasan Mohsin (vc) | Abrar Ahmed | Aamer Ali |
| Ammad Alam | Asad Raza | Ghulam Mudassar | Ibtisam Sheikh |
| Jahid Ali | Mohammad Suleman | Mohammad Umar | Rameez Aziz |
| Saad Ali | Saifullah Bangash | Shahnawaz | Omair Bin Yousuf |
Player Support Personnel – Ghulam Ali (coach-cum-manager), Zafar Iqbal (assistant coach), Javed Sheikh (trainer), Nisar Khan (physio) and Shanullah (analyst).
Southern Punjab
First XI
| Shan Masood (c) | Hussain Talat (vc) | Aamir Yamin | Ali Shafiq |
| Bilawal Bhatti | Khushdil Shah | Mohammad Abbas | Mohammad Ilyas |
| Mohammad Irfan | Rahat Ali | Saif Badar | Sohaib Maqsood |
| Umer Khan | Umar Siddiq | Zahid Mehmood | Zeeshan Ashraf (wk) |
Player Support Personnel – Shahid Butt (manager), Abdul Rehman (head coach), Aizaz Cheema (assistant coach), Khawaja Rohail Ali (trainer), Mohammad Tayyab (physio) and Mohammad Faisal Rai (analyst).
Second XI
| Naved Yasin (c) | Agha Salman Ali (vc) | Maqbool Ahmed (wk) | Ali Usman |
| Anus Mustafa | Dilbar Hussain | Mohammad Imran | Mohammad Irfan |
| Mohammad Mohsin | Mohammad Rameez | Mohammad Umair | Mohammad Irfan Jnr – Withdrawn |
| Mukhtar Ahmed | Tayyab Tahir | Zaib Abbas | Zia-ul-Haq |
Player Support personnel – Sajjad Akbar (coach-cum-manager), Zahoor Elahi (assistant coach), Iftikhar Hussain (trainer), Adeel Bajwa (physio), and Hafiz Mohammad Usman (analyst).
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Meanwhile, the head coaches have finalized a pool of reserve cricketers, in addition to the 45 players of their Cricket Associations, who, if required, can be used as Covid-19 replacements:
Reserve players: Aamer Azmat (Peshawar), Abdul Rauf (Kurram Agency), Abdullah Muqaddam (Karachi), Abubakar Khan (Mianwali), Ali Manzoor (Lahore), Asif Fawad (Multan), Fahad Hussain (D.M. Jamali), Hamza Arshad (Rawalpindi), Hasan Raza (Mirpur), Haseeb Azam (Rawalpindi), Hazrat Shah (Islamabad), Jahanzaib Sultan (Karachi), Khalilullah (Mardan), Mohammad (D.M. Jamali), Mohammad Nadeem (Islamabad), Mohammad Shahid (D.M. Jamali), Mohammad Umar Burki (KP), Mohammad Waqas (Karachi), Nasir Khan (D.M. Jamali), Raza-ul-Hasan (Karachi), Sajjad Ali (Mardan), Salman Fayyaz (Lahore), Shehzad Azam Rana (Islamabad), Shoaib Ahmed (D.M. Jamali) and Yousaf Babar (Multan).
Which team do you think has a stronger side on paper? Let us know in the comments section.
