Misbah to lead Faisalabad, Sarfraz to captain Karachi Whites

KARACHI: Former Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq will as usual lead Faisalabad, while Karachi Whites will be captained by current skipper Sarfraz Ahmed as eight regional teams were formed on Thursday for the National T20 Cup to be held at Multan and Faisalabad from August 25 to September 10.

The outfits were formed from a pool of over 150 players through a draft system. The teams which will be part of the showpiece are Karachi Whites, Lahore Whites, Lahore Blues, Islamabad, FATA, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Faisalabad.

The last year’s champions Karachi Blues could not make it to the event due to their poor performance in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy where they failed to click and were relegated.“All participating teams were picked by their respective regional head, selector, captain and coach,” Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Thursday.

Karachi Whites will be coached by former left-arm Test pacer Saleem Jaffar.Sarfraz is playing for Yorkshire county in England’s domestic cricket competition NatWest T20 Blast.Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt will lead Lahore Whites, while former Pakistan skipper Mohammad Hafeez will be the captain of Lahore Blues.

Left-handed discarded international Umar Amin will skipper Rawalpindi. Pakistan’s key all-rounder Imad Wasim will captain Islamabad.  Discarded international stumper Mohammad Rizwan will lead former champions Peshawar.

Left-arm international speedster Usman Shinwari will lead the tribesmen. The tournament will be held in two phases. The first round matches will be played in Multan till August 31. There will be a break for Eid-ul-Azha and the second and final stage will start on September 4 at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad.

The event will conclude on September 10. A total number of 31 matches will be played in the entire event. Each side will play seven matches each. The top four teams will advance to the semi-finals to be held on September 9 at Iqbal Stadium. The final will be held on September 10 at the same venue.

Karachi Whites coach Saleem Jaffar said he had a good team. “Our team is balanced and I hope it will click,” he told ‘The News’.He said that Pakistan’s captain Sarfraz Ahmed will be available from the start.

A PCB source told ‘The News’ that all the contracted players of the PCB would take fitness tests on August 22 and 23.“The PCB has called all the contracted players, including those engaged in foreign leagues, for fitness tests in Lahore,” the source said.

However, he was quick to add that it was not yet known whether star cricketers would be part of the second phase of the T20 event or not.He said that Pakistan camp for the matches against the World XI would begin from September 7.

He said the dates of the World XI tour to Pakistan had not yet been decided.Squads: Faisalabad: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Saeed Ajmal, Asif Ali, Fahim Ashraf (pre-allocated), Sohaib Maqsood, Imran Butt, Khurram Shehzad (premium batsmen), Mohammad Sami, Taj Wali (premium bowlers), Sahibzada Farhan, Yasir Shah, Ali Waqas, Imran Khalid, Ali Shan (free picks), Asad Raza (emerging)

FATA: Usman Shinwari (captain), Rehan Afridi, Asif Afridi, Khushdil Shah (pre-allocated), Mukhtar Ahmed, Naved Malik, Awais Zia (premium batsmen), Bilawal Bhatti, Sameen Gul (premium bowlers), Usama Mir, Hammad Azam, Mohammad Naeem, Nabi Gul, Irfan Rasheed (free picks), Shaheen Shah (emerging)

Islamabad: Imad Wasim (captain), Hasan Ali, Zohaib Ahmed, Sarmad Bhatti (pre-allocated), Nauman Anwar, Adil Amin, Shan Masood (premium batsmen), Rahat Ali, Umar Gul (premium bowlers), Shoaib Malik, Rohail Nazir, Ali Sarfraz, Shehzad Azam, Faizan Riaz (free picks), Arsal Sheikh (emerging)

Karachi Whites: Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Asad Shafiq, Anwar Ali, Rumman Raees (pre-allocated), Khurram Manzoor, Shahid Yousuf, Akbar-ur-Rehman (premium batsmen), Mir Hamza, Tabish Khan (premium bowlers), Haris Sohail, Zulfiqar Babar, Danish Aziz, Azam Hussain, Jahid Ali (free picks), Ibrar Ahmed (emerging)

Lahore Blues: Mohammad Hafeez (captain), Babar Azam, Ahmed Shehzad, Hussain Talat (pre-allocated), Imam-ul-Haq, Tayyab Tahir, Abid Ali (premium batsmen), Khalid Usman, Atif Jabbar (premium bowlers), Mohammad Aamir, Junaid Khan, Agha Salman, Saad Nasim, Adnan Akmal (free picks), Ghulam Mudassir (emerging)

Lahore Whites: Salman Butt (captain), Wahab Riaz, Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal (pre-allocated), Sami Aslam, Asif Ali, Asif Zakir (premium batsmen), Ehsan Adil, Mohammad Irfan (FATA) (premium bowlers), Aamir Yamin, Bilal Asif, Amad Butt, Raza Ali Dar, Azhar Ali (free picks), Hassan Khan (emerging)

Peshawar: Mohammad Rizwan (captain), Zohaib Khan, Israrullah, Imran Junior (pre-allocated), Rifatullah, Musaddiq Ahmed, Naved Yasin (premium batsmen), Waqas Maqsood, Mohammad Imran (premium bowlers), Fakhar Zaman, Sohail Khan, Kashif Bhatti, Imran Khan Senior, Usman Qadir (free picks), Saif Badar (emerging)

Rawalpindi: Umar Amin (captain), Sohail Tanvir, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz (pre-allocated), Fawad Alam, Zain Abbas, Ahsan Ali (premium batsmen), Mohammad Irfan Junior, Mohammad Abbas (premium bowlers), Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Asghar, Rameez Aziz, Nasir Nawaz, Adnan Ghaus (free picks), Umair Masood (emerging)