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Thursday March 28, 2024

Afridi to play for Islamabad in National T20

By our correspondents
July 30, 2016

KARACHI: Pakistan’s star all-rounder Shahid Afridi has been drafted into the Islamabad team while Pakistan’s Test skipper Misbah-ul-Haq will represent Karachi Whites in the National T20 Cup 2016 which will be held at Multan and Rawalpindi from August 25 to September 16.

As many as eight teams were constituted on Friday through a draft system from the country’s top crop on the pattern of the Pakistan Super League.

The 2016-2017 season will start with the T20 event.

The eight teams will play under a single league system in the 23-day event. The leading four outfits will qualify for the semi-finals. For the semi-finals the teams will be re-drafted in order to provide room to star cricketers returning from England.

Pakistan will play their last One-day International against England on September 4 and a T20 International on September 7.

The first round will be held from August 25 to September 2 at the Pindi Stadium, Rawalpindi.

After a two-day break for Eid-ul-Azha, the second round will be conducted at the Multan Stadium from September 5 to September 16.

Karachi and Lahore will have two teams each. Islamabad, Peshawar, Rawalpindi and FATA are the others. Peshawar will defend the crown.

A spokesman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) told this correspondent that two matches would be held daily.

However, he was not clear about the timing of the matches. The spokesman said this was the best available time-frame for the competitions because of Pakistan’s international commitments.

Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt has been included in Lahore Whites, while off-spinner Saeed Ajmal will be seen in action for Karachi Blues.

Test opener Ahmed Shehzad will represent Lahore Blues, while Test pacers Junaid Khan and Umar Gul have been inducted into the Islamabad side.

Holders Peshawar have got the services of hard-hitting batsman Sohaib Maqsood.

Peshawar: Rafatullah Mohmand, Zohaib Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Waqas Maqsood, Ghulam Mudassir, Musaddiq Ahmed, Imran Khalid, Gauhar Ali, Shah Faisal, Imran Khan Jr, Sohaib Maqsood, Israrullah, Iftikhar Ahmed, Akbar Badshah

Rawalpindi: Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Nawaz, Asif Ali, Hammad Azam, Shadab Khan, Yasir Arafat, Zulfiqar Babar, Aizaz Cheema, Zahid Mansoor, Jamal Anwar, Umar Amin, Awais Zia, Mukhtar Ahmed, Zeeshan Malik, Naved Malik

Karachi Blues: Khalid Latif, Mohammad Asghar, Shahzaib Hasan, Saifullah Bangash, Ali Khan, Khurram Manzoor, Rumman Raees, Usama Mir, Saeed Ajmal, Zohaib Shera, Mohammad Sami, Bilawal Bhatti, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Waqas, Fazal Subhan

Karachi Whites: Akbar-ur-Rehman, Azam Hussain, Misbah-ul-Haq, Tabish Khan, Danish Aziz, Tariq Haroon, Asif Zakir, Ahsan Ali, Saud Shakeel, Faraz Ahmed Khan, Mir Hamza, Sohail Khan, Ramiz Raja Jr, Mohammad Hasan, Zain Abbas

Lahore Blues: Ahmed Shehzad, Salman Ali Aga, Hasan Ali, Nauman Anwar, Farhan Khan, Saad Nasim, Faheem Ashraf, Naved Yasin, Mohammad Akhlaq, Asif Reza, Nasir Jamshed, Zafar Gohar, Rahat Ali, Ahmed Bashir, Reza Ali Dar

Lahore Whites: Kamran Akmal, Hussain Talat, Zia-ul-Haq, Imran Khan, Ayaz Tasawar, Umar Akmal, Kashif Bhatti, Ehsan Adil, Qaiser Ashraf, Ammad Butt, Salman Butt, Shahid Yousuf, Kamran Ghulam, Arsal Sheikh, Imran Butt

Islamabad: Umar Gul, Naeem Anjum, Sami Aslam, Imam-ul-Haq, Raheel Majeed, Imad Wasim, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Rehman, Abid Ali, Ali Sarfraz, Sarmad Bhatti, Junaid Khan, Adil Amin, Zohaib Ahmed, Sheraz Azam

FATA: Fawad Khan, Asif Ali, Bilal Asif, Khushdil Shah, Irfanullah Shah, Mohammad Usman, Aamir Yamin, Yasir Hameed, Adnan Raees, Sameen Gul, Mohammad Irfan, Umar Siddiq, Mohammad Imran, Asif Afridi, Sohrab Khan,