T20 festival match to be played on September 6 in Muzaffarabad (AJK)

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will organise a festival match in Muzaffarabad on Friday, September 6, which also marks the 54th Defence Day of Pakistan, for the promotion and development of the game.

Muzaffarabad Cricket Stadium has been selected as a venue for the season-opener after it was named as one of the centres to stage the 2019-20 domestic cricket matches.

The September 6 match between PCB Chairman’s XI and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister’s XI will be a T20 fixture, which will begin at 10am.

The PCB Chairman’s XI will be led by Sarfaraz Ahmed and will include local cricketers such as Babar Khaliq, Faizan Saleem, Moin Pervez, Saqlain Gillani, Shadab Majeed and Usman Mahroof.

The AJK Prime Minister’s XI will be captained by Azhar Ali, and the local players to feature are Aqib Liaqat, Hassan Raza, Naveed Malik and Raja Farhan.

Former captain Misbah-ul-Haq and parliamentarian Ali Amin Gandapur will also be in action.

The festival match is a part of PCB’s aspirations and efforts to take cricket to every nook and corner of the country

The two squads are:

PCB Chairman’s XI – Sarfaraz Ahmed (captain), Abid Ali, Babar Khaliq, Bilal Asif, Fizan Saleem, Babar Azam, Misbah-ul-Haq, Moin Perveiz, Saqlain Gillani, Shadab Majeed, Shan Masood, Usman Mahroof and Usman Shinwari

AKJ Prime Minister’s XI – Azhar Ali (captain), Ali Amin Gandapur, Asad Shafiq, Aqib Liaqat, Hassan Raza, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imam-ul-Haq, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan, Naveed Malik, Rahat Ali, Raja Farhan and Zafar Gohar