The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced the squads for the upcoming National T20 Cup which will be held from 23 September and 13 October.
Centrally contracted players including the likes of Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Shaheen Afridi, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Hafeez, Imad Wasim, and other members of Pakistan’s squad for the T20 World Cup will all be in action in what promises to be a huge event.
Babar Azam will lead Central Punjab, Imam-ul-Haq has been named Balochistan’s captain, Mohammad Rizwan will captain the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa side while Shadab Khan will marshal the Northern troops on the field. Sohaib Maqsood has been given the opportunity to captain Southern Punjab and Sarfaraz Ahmed will be the captain of Sindh.
The PCB has shifted the first leg of the tournament to Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. This seems to be more of a message to the world that Pakistan is a safe place for cricket after New Zealand’s unilateral decision to cancel the series based on a hoax threat.
Here are the squads for all six cricket associations:
Balochistan Squad
Imam-ul-Haq (captain), Bismillah Khan (vice-captain and wicketkeeper), Abdul Wahid Bangalzai, Akbar-ur-Rehman, Akif Javed, Amad Butt, Ayaz Tasawar, Gohar Faiz, Haris Sohail, Jalat Khan, Junaid Khan, Kashif Bhatti, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Ibrahim Snr, Umaid Asif, and Yasir Shah.
Central Punjab Squad
Babar Azam (captain), Hasan Ali (vice-captain), Abdullah Shafique, Ahmed Safi Abdullah, Ahmed Shehzad, Ehsan Adil, Faheem Ashraf, Hussain Talat, Kamran Akmal (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Akhlaq (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Hafeez, Qasim Akram, Saif Badar, Shoaib Malik, Usman Qadir, Wahab Riaz, and Waqas Maqsood.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Squad
Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Shaheen Shah Afridi (vice-captain), Adil Amin, Arshad Iqbal, Asif Afridi, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imran Khan Snr, Israrullah, Maaz Khan, Mohammad Haris (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Imran Khan, Mohammad Wasim, Mussadiq Ahmed, and Sahibzada Farhan.
Northern Squad
Shadab Khan (captain), Mohammad Nawaz (vice-captain), Rohail Nazir (wicketkeeper), Ali Imran, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Imad Wasim, Musa Khan, Nasir Nawaz, Salman Irshad, Sohail Akhtar, Sohail Tanvir, Umer Amin, Zaman Khan, and Zeeshan Malik.
Sindh Squad
Sarfaraz Ahmed (captain and wicketkeeper), Anwar Ali (vice-captain), Abrar Ahmed, Ahsan Ali, Danish Aziz, Hassan Mohsin, Khurram Manzoor, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Taha, Ruman Raees, Saud Shakeel, Shan Masood, Shahnawaz Dahani, Sharjeel Khan and Zahid Mahmood.
Southern Punjab Squad
Sohaib Maqsood (captain), Zeeshan Ashraf (vice-captain), Amir Yamin, Azam Khan (wicketkeeper), Dilbar Hussain, Faisal Akram, Hassan Khan, Imran Randhawa, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Ilyas, Naseem Shah, Salman Ali Agha, Tayyab Tahir, Umer Khan, Zain Abbas, and Zia-ul-Haq.
