LAHORE: Pakistan’s best domestic white-ball cricketers will be seen in action when the Kingdom Valley National T20 Cup 2022-23 starts on Tuesday in Rawalpindi.

The 33-match tournament is a curtain raiser for the 2022-23 men’s domestic cricket season and will be followed by Quaid-e-Azam Trophy (first-class) and Pakistan Cup (one-day).

The National T20 Cup 2022-23 will be played in two legs. Rawalpindi’s Pindi Cricket Stadium will host the first 16 matches till Sept 7 and then the action will move to the Multan Cricket Stadium, where the remaining matches will be held from Sept 10-19.

Led by Khalid Usman, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the defending champions, will enter the tournament with the mission of securing a hat-trick of titles after winning the 2020-21 and 2021-22 editions. They have won 15 of their last 24 matches and begin their campaign on Aug 31 when they play Central Punjab.

Yasir Shah-led Balochistan enter the tournament with confidence as they ended the previous season on a high by winning the Pakistan Cup. Since playing the final of the 2019-20 edition of the tournament, Balochistan have failed to make it to the semi-finals and that’s what they would look to change when they face Central Punjab on the opening day of the tournament.

Central Punjab suffered defeat at the hands of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Lahore last season, thanks to Iftikhar Ahmed’s whirlwind 19-ball 45 not out in the final. It was the first instance of the side making it to the final after they failed to qualify for the semi-finals in 2019-20 and 2020-21. All-rounder Faheem Ashraf leads them this season.

Northern were champions of the first National T20 played following the revamp of the domestic structure. They lifted the trophy at the Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad, by thumping Balochistan in the final. They have been one of the most consistent teams in the tournament, making it to the semi-finals in the last two editions. Under the captaincy of Umar Amin, their aim must be to start good at their home, Rawalpindi, and go the distance when the tournament moves to Multan.

Southern Punjab had a last-minute change of guard after Hasan Ali was called up to the national side for the ongoing T20 Asia Cup in the UAE. All-rounder Salman Ali Agha, who made his Test and ODI debuts recently, has been handed the reins in the absence of the star pacer. Southern Punjab had a memorable 2020-21 campaign in which they fell 10 runs short of winning the title, but showed great grit and determination in making it to the final. Sohaib Maqsood’s stunning 81 off 29 scripted an epic run chase when they scaled the 162-run target in 10.4 overs against Balochistan to secure a spot in the semi-final, where they beat Northern by seven wickets. They couldn’t make it to the last four in the previous edition and will be hoping to stage a resounding comeback.

Led by Saud Shakeel, Sindh play the first match of the National T20 Cup when they take on Southern Punjab tomorrow. Following a lacklustre 2019-20 edition, Sindh have made it to the top four and played semi-finals in the last two tournaments.

To ensure the players participating in the tournament get their due share of exposure and fans get to enjoy the action-packed matches, the double-headers from Aug 30 till Sept 11 have been scheduled in a manner that they do not clash with the Asia Cup T20.

The first match of the day commences at 0930 and the second at 1400. From Sept 12, the first of the two matches will start at 1500, while the second will begin at 1930.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2022