Punjab to face Balochistan in Pakistan Cup opener today

KARACHI: The last year’s runners-up Punjab will lock horns with Balochistan as the Pakistan Cup 2017 One-day Cricket Championship begins at Pindi Stadium in Rawalpindi on Sunday (today).

The match starts at 2pm.

Zameer Haider and Ahsan Reza will supervise the match, while Ahmad Shahab would be the television umpire and Ghaffar Kazmi, the reserve umpire.

Punjab will be led by Pakistan’s hard-hitting middle-order batsman Umar Akmal who was dropped from Pakistan’s limited overs series against the West Indies recently on fitness grounds.

However, Akmal then proved his fitness by hitting a superb century in his first game of the Patron’s Trophy Grade-II, while representing CandyLand here in Karachi last month.

The other key players of the side are Kamran Akmal, Salman Butt, Junaid Khan and Hammad Azam.

The left-handed batsman Fakhar Zaman, who recently toured the West Indies, would lead Balochistan which also contains discarded international pinch hitter Sohaib Maqsood, talented left-handed batsman Imam-ul-Haq, speedster Usman Shinwari and compact Karachi’s batsman Saad Ali. Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federal are the other teams taking part in the 14-day competitions.

The teams had been selected last month from a draft of 131 top players of the country. International all-rounder Anwar Ali will lead Sindh, Imad Wasim will be the skipper of Federal and wicket-keeper batsman Mohammad Rizwan will captain Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who had crushed Punjab in the final of last year’s event hosted by Faisalabad.

The winners will receive a purse of Rs2 million whereas the runners-up will get Rs1 million. The best batsman, best bowler, best all-rounder and man-of-the-final will get Rs50,000 each. Similarly, the man-of-the-match of the round matches will be given Rs25,000.

As many as three day matches will be held while the rest will be day-night as per schedule.

Squads:

Balochistan: Fakhar Zaman (captain), Ghulam Mudassir (emerging), Bismillah Khan (regional), Imam-ul-Haq, Sohaib Maqsood, Saad Ali, Usman Shinwari, Khalid Usman, Azizullah, Agha Salman, Aamir Yamin, Sahibzada Farhan, Rameez Aziz, Taimoor Khan, Hammal Wahab (emerging), 

Punjab: Umar Akmal (captain), Nasir Nawaz (emerging), Kamran Akmal (regional), Salman Butt, Umar Amin, Khushdil Shah, Zulfiqar Babar, Junaid Khan, Bilawal Bhatti, Fahim Ashraf, Hammad Azam, Raza Ali Dar, Abdul Rehman Muzammil, Saad Nasim (regional), Arsal Sheikh (emerging).