LAHORE, Feb 6: Pakistan’s leading cricketers Shoaib Malik, Younis Khan, Shoaib Akhtar and Shahid Afridi were named captains of four of the five outfits picked for the Pentangular Cup starting from Sunday.

In all, 10 four-day matches will be played in the competition ending on March 14. After the first-round matches, there will be a break of nine days because of the general elections on Feb 18. The tournament will resume from Feb 22.

Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik will lead a formidable Punjab side, while the national vice-captain Misbah-ul-Haq will be his deputy. Among current Pakistan stars Mohammad Yousuf and wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal have been included in the squad that also features Abdul Rehman, Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed.

Fast bowler Mohammad Asif, currently recuperating from an elbow surgery, is expected to play for Punjab subject to passing the fitness test.

Shoaib Akhtar, who also has to prove match-fitness to regain a place in the national team, has been named as captain for the Federal Areas team. Rao Iftikhar (vice-captain), Sohail Tanvir, Yasir Arafat and Bazid Khan are some of the international players included in the squad.

Prolific batsman Younis Khan will lead the NWFP team with Yasir Hameed as his deputy. Wajahatullah Wasti, Fazle Akbar, Samiullah Niazi are some prominent names in the squad which looks rather weak compared to Punjab.

Sindh will fight for the top honours under the captaincy of dashing all-rounder Shahid Afridi.

Like Punjab, the Sindh outfit appear quite strong with the induction of prominent players like Danish Kaneria, Mohammad Sami, Hasan Raza, Faisal Iqbal, Khalid Latif, Fawad Alam, Khurram Manzoor and wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed.

The weakest team of the contest is Balochistan, which includes players from the Multan region to make it stronger.

Balochistan will be led by Naseem Khan while medium-pacer Abdur Rauf of Multan region is the vice-captain. Except for Rauf and opener Imran Nazir there is no other prominent cricketer in the squad.

The details of the teams were announced at a press conference addressed by chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed, PCB Chief Operating Officer, Shafqat Naghmi, and Director Cricket Operations, Zakir Khan.

Salahuddin said Shoaib Akhtar was included as he was fit for the game.

“He is our national asset and since he is not carrying any major injury and as he also appeared at the national camp for the Zimbabwe series it is enough to prove his fitness,” he said.

Naghmi admitted the total cash prize for the winners of Rs1 million is less than the Indian’s Ranji Trophy, which offers Rs10 million.

“The PCB is not as [financially] strong as the BCCI; and as they are 10 times bigger to us so I decided this amount,” Naghmi said.

Asked if the Pentangular Cup was too competitive compared to the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy then the players must have been awarded central contract for the next year on the basis of their performances in the former event instead of the latter, Zakir responded that it was not possible, though he stressed that the Pentangular Cup offers a tough competition.

The PCB had given central contract to various best performers of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy. Among the 22 teams, various weak teams were featuring in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy.

Besides the cash prize of Rs one million for the winners, the runners-up will receive Rs500,000. Best batsman, bowler, wicketkeeper and fielder will be awarded Rs50,000 each. The player of the tournament will get a 1600CC car.

The playing eleven of a match will be entitled to receive Rs25,000 each while the non-playing members will get Rs10,000 per match. Similarly, a win bonus for every victory is Rs100,000.

While the selectors had announced 20 players for each of the five squads, the managers and coaches will reduce the list to 15 players each. The managers and coaches are also responsible to decide the playing eleven.

However, there is no programme announced to advise the players when and where they have to report to their respective managers or coaches.

On query, a PCB spokesman said most probably the selected players would assemble from Thursday.

Squads: