LAHORE, Sept 14: Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik has said that the national Twenty20 cricket championship, which is scheduled to start from Oct 4, will help the players prepare for a similar four-nation tourney in Canada immediately afterwards.

Speaking to the media on Sunday, Shoaib said a domestic tournament before an international event was much better as compared to a training camp.

While the national T-20 event is scheduled for Oct 4 to 8, the team will leave for Canada to play in the quadrangular event to be held from Oct 10 to 13.

The team is due to leave immediately after the tournament.

The four teams featuring in the contest are Pakistan, Canada, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe was included at the eleventh hour after the West Indies declined the invitation.

Shoaib remarked that he did not consider Zimbabwe and Canada as weak sides since any team could deliver on any given day in this version of the game as aptly proven in the inaugural World Cup held in South Africa last year.

He said the next home series against India, set for January 2009, would be vital for Pakistan and he wanted to win it to start the new year on a winning note.

He admitted that there would be a great difference between India and Pakistan since the visitors would be meeting the hosts after a good round of international activities while Pakistan had limited cricket activity till January.

After the postponement of the ICC Champions Trophy, which was to be held in Pakistan in Sept this year, due to security concerns, the national team has only the unscheduled Twenty-20 tournament of Canada and a proposed series against the West Indies in Abu Dhabi followed by an expected two Test match series at home against the Caribbean.

Though Pakistan is facing a long cricketing drought, no country has come forward as Sri Lanka and South Africa both refused to host Pakistan, recently.

The proposed series against the West Indies in Abu Dhabi may be the only assignment before meeting India at home as chances of the two Test series against the West Indies seem unlikely.