Quetta Gladiators to hunt talent in Balochistan

KARACHI: Quetta Gladiators, one of the five founding entities of the Pakistan Super League, is about to launch a talent hunt programme titled ‘Your Gateway to Stardom’ later this week.

The salient features of the Under-23 Talent Hunt Programme for Balochistan, to be conducted under the supervision of Iqbal Qasim, were unveiled by the owner of Quetta Gladiators, Nadeem Omar, here on Monday.

Moin Khan, a former Pakistan captain and coach of Quetta Gladiators, was also present on the occasion, alongwith Salahuddin Ahmed, ex-chairman of the national selection committee.

“Iqbal Qasim, one of the greatest left-arm spinners, has been roped in as the Director of the programme and he will be assisted by Saleem Jaffer, Ghulam Ali and Zafar Ahmed,” Nadeem said. “All of them have volunteered to work on honorary basis which is truly commendable.

“The initial phase of the trials will be taking place at the Bugti Stadium in Quetta from September 1 to 4 and at the Jam Mir Ghulam Qadir Stadium in Hub on September 7 and 8. The final phase of the trials will be carried out in the third week of September in Quetta. At the end of the final selection process, around 20 players will be selected and they will be awarded one-year contracts during which period they will be trained by qualified coaches,” Omar Associates Managing Director revealed.

“As many as 15 players will be selected from the talent hunt while the top five performers of Balochistan in the PCB Regional Under-19 Tournament will be automatically drafted in the final list,” he added.

The players from all cities and districts of Balochistan, falling in the under-23 age group, have been invited to take part in the trials.

“We want to provide a solid platform to the cricketers of Balochistan,” Nadeem said.

Iqbal shared his experience of working in Balochistan for seven to eight years during his long stint as a cricket administrator.

“Trust me we were overwhelmed by the talent of the youngsters over there. They were incredibly powerful young lads whose cricketing abilities were beyond our imagination. This initiative of Quetta Gladiators is a masterstroke and it should work wonders,” he said.

Moin was equally optimistic about discovering talent from Balochistan. “The Balochistan youngsters thoroughly deserved such an initiative. They have enormous talent and enthusiasm,” he said.

Murad Ismail, President Quetta Regional Cricket Association, offered his wholehearted support to Quetta Gladiators in this venture.

Shariq Hasib Khan, a senior bureaucrat having headed cricket bodies in Balochistan, announced holding an Inter-Schools Cricket Tournament in Quetta in October in which a total of 24 outfits will be taking part.