LAHORE: In an amazing development, the head coaches of the six provincial cricket associations on Wednesday selected 16-player squads of their respective regions for the National T20 Cup, which commences in Multan on Sept 30, without holding any trials or conducting any inter-district matches to assess the players.

In the first phase, the same selectors have selected 45 players for each respective cricket association. To pick 16 from 45 after holding a two-day trial could have been possible to check the present fitness and skill level of the players instead of just considering their last two years performance. It is obvious that due to the Covid-19 pandemic prevalent since early this year, no cricket action whatsoever at either club, city or at any level was possible in the last six months and no one could possibly judge the present fitness or skill levels of the players.

Meanwhile, conflict of interest is also becoming a issue here as two members of the National Cricket Committee of the PCB are also performing in the T20 Cup in different roles. Former Test fast bowler Umar Gul, a member of the cricket committee which exists without its chairman because Iqbal Qasim has resigned after developing differences with the PCB policies, is also playing for the Balochistan team.

The second such case of conflict of interest is that former international cricketer Ali Naqvi, who is also a member of that committee, and has been included in the elite panel of referees. The question, therefore, arises here as to how can both Umar Gul and Ali Naqvi - who as as the members of the cricket committee, have to analyse the performances of the players and match officials - will asses their own bad or good performances in domestic cricket?

It may be mentioned here that the PCB has also increased the central contract’s amount for the domestic players falling in four categories - from A plus, A, B, C and D which is a good step.

The First XI National T20 Cup 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, the PCB said in a press release.

“With the HBL 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,” it stated.

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.

Squads:

Balochistan:

First XI – Haris Sohail (captain), Bismillah Khan (vice-captain, wicketkeeper), Akbar-ur-Rehman, Akif Javed, Ammad Butt, Awais Zia, Imam-ul-Haq, Imran Butt, Imran Farhat, Kashif Bhatti, Khurram Shahzad, Taimur Khan, Umaid Asif, Umar Gul, Usama Mir and Yasir Shah

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 – Sami Aslam (captain), Jalat Khan (vice-captain), Abdul Nasir, Abdul Wahid Bangalzai, Akhtar Shah, Ayaz Tasawar, Gohar Faiz, Gulraiz Sadaf (wicketkeeper), Hayat Ullah, Mohammad Ibrahim, Mohammad Junaid Khan, Mohammad Talha, Najeebullah Achakzai, Rameez Raja Jnr, Salahuddin and 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 (captain), Saad Nasim (vice-captain), Abdullah Shafiq, Abid Ali, Ahmed Bashir, Bilal Asif, Ehsan Adil, Faheem Ashraf, Irfan Khan Niazi, Kamran Akmal (wicketkeeper), Naseem Shah, Qasim Akram, Rizwan Hussain, Sohaibullah, Usman Qadir and 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)

Second XI – Nauman Anwar (captain), Raza Ali Dar (vice-captain), Atiq-ur-Rehman, Aitzaz Habib Khan, Bilawal Iqbal, Fahad Usman, Junaid Ali, Kamran Afzal, Muhammad Akhlaq, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Faiq, Mohammad Saad, Nisar Ahmad, Suleman Shafqat, Waqas Maqsood and 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 (captain, wicketkeeper), Junaid Khan (vice-captain), Arshad Iqbal, Asif Afridi, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imran Khan Snr, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Haris (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Mohsin, Sahibzada Farhan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Usman Khan Shinwari, Wahab Riaz and 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).

Second XI - Mehran Ibrahim (captain), Rehan Afridi (vice-captain, wicketkeeper), 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 and 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 (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Ali Imran, Asif Ali, Farzan Raja, Haider Ali, Hammad Azam, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Nawaz, Musa Khan, Rohail Nazir (wicketkeeper), Sohail Akhtar, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Amin and 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)

Second XI – Nauman Ali (captain), Umair Masood (vice-captain, wicketkeeper), 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 and 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 (captain, wicketkeeper), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Ahsan Ali, Anwar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Azam Khan, Danish Aziz, Hassan Khan, Khurram Manzoor, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Asghar, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Taha, Rumman Raees, Sharjeel Khan and 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 Alam (captain), Hasan Mohsin (vice-captain), 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 and 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 (captain), Hussain Talat (vice-captain), Aamir Yamin, Ali Shafiq, Bilawal Bhatti, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ilyas, Mohammad Irfan, Rahat Ali (subject to fitness), Saif Baddar, Sohaib Maqsood, Umer Khan, Umar Siddiq Khan, Zahid Mehmood and Zeeshan Ashraf (wicketkeeper).

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 (captain), Agha Salman Ali (vice-captain), Maqbool Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Ali Usman, Anus Mustafa, Dilbar Hussain, Mohammad Imran, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Mohsin, Mohammad Rameez, Mohammad Umair, Mohammd Irfan Jnr, Mukhtar Ahmed, Tayyab Tahir, Zain Abbas and 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).

Meanwhile, the head coaches have finalised 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).

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2020