ANOTHER edition of Pakistan’s flagship Quaid-i-Azam Trophy first-class competition came to a conclusion with Karachi Blues and Faisalabad emerging as deserving winners of the Super Eight and Six Bottom Teams Leagues respectively.

The 14-team competition offered some thrilling matches and some excellent individual performances. The selectors must have spotted a good number of youngsters who can serve the national team in the years to come.

As has now become customary, this year’s tournament was yet again played under a brand new format. The original 14 teams were divided into two pools of seven, with top four teams from each group progressing to the Super Eight with the remaining six playing in the Six Bottom Teams. The toppers then contested their respective league finals.

While the tournament was an improvement on the last year’s version in the sense that it only accommodated the regional teams, there are certain aspects which — if addressed — can make it much more competitive and attractive.

To start with, the premier tournament was conspicuous by the limited participation of big stars. Admittedly, the national team was involved in a Test series against South Africa for much of duration of the tournament; however, there was a window of around 20 days between the team’s last One-day International (ODI) in India and the side match against the South African Invitation XI which means that players such as Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Azhar Ali and Junaid Khan could have played at least a couple of rounds of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy.

Of course, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)’s decision to restrict the number of departmental players appearing for their regions also did not help the cause.  Having conceded that, even players not selected for the South African tour were irregular with their appearances.

Sohail Tanvir — captain of Rawalpindi — chose to leave the tournament during its latter stages and flew off to South Africa to take part in a Twenty20 league. This has been a problem for some years now; the big stars typically do not mind skipping the regional matches.

Another factor that prevented some big players to represent their regional sides was the PCB’s decision to send as many as 18 players to South Africa.

With so many batsmen, there was no way Faisal Iqbal was going to get a game on tour. Similarly, Rahat Ali and Tanvir Ahmed were rushed to South Africa although the squad already had Ehsan Adil as a backup.

Then there was the usual lack of hype and awareness among the general public. Considering the fact that this is the platform which serves as the steppingstone for the youngsters to get to the highest league, the fans’ interest was minimal.

The Tier-I final was the only match that was televised live. Even at the local level, there was no effort by the respective Regions to create knowledge about the competition, attract crowds to the stadium and acknowledge the performances of their local heroes.

Another worrisome feature of the tournament was the inconsistent spread of matches. For example, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad played only one out of their seven first-round fixtures on home soil whereas Hyderabad played three and Multan played as many as four out of their seven first-round matches in Multan.

Plenty of matches were also played on neutral territories such as Mirpur and Gujrat. Ideally, the format should be such that teams play each other twice — once home and once away.

The organisers might be reluctant to do this as this can increase the number of matches but one way of managing it is to reduce the number of teams taking part in the prestigious competition.

The starting point can be to limit Karachi and Lahore to field only one team each. The two cities might be the nurseries of cricketing talent in the country but the results at the domestic level over the past few years suggest that these teams have not really lived up to that reputation.

Karachi Blues did win this year’s Super Eights Competition but the remaining three outfits finished behind Islamabad and Rawalpindi in the first round and it was Sialkot who ended up playing the final against the eventual champions.

It has to be understood that the objective of domestic first-class competitions is not to provide opportunities to maximum number of players; rather, it has to serve as a forum which can prepare competent, battle-hardened cricketers for the national team.

Equally, it also has to be a place where an out-of-form or out-of-favour international player can return in order to regain his confidence and sort out his shortcomings. For this to happen, the domestic cricket has got to be extremely competitive and this can only happen if only a limited number of high-quality players are allowed to participate at this level.

Going forward, it is imperative that a standard format is worked out keeping in mind all factors and is then followed in the coming years. The format should make every team play against all opposition on home and away basis thereby giving it a fair chance to excel. This will not only make this competition relevant for the players but will also allow the fans to get behind their local teams.

Needless to say, the nature of pitches should be such that the upcoming youngsters get equipped to deal with all types of conditions at home and abroad.

Last but not least, if the authorities are serious in enhancing the profile of this championship, they will have to hire professionals who would make sure that these matches are marketed to the general public.

This is especially important in a scenario where international cricket is not taking place in Pakistan.