Saleem confident as Karachi Whites begin title quest

KARACHI: Karachi Whites begin their title quest when they face former champions Faisalabad in their opening game of the Cool and Cool National T20 Cup at the Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi, on Saturday (today).

Karachi Whites will be looking to keep the title with the port city as Karachi Blues lifted crown of the last edition held at Multan after beating Karachi Whites by three runs.However, Karachi Blues failed to make it for this event after they failed to perform well in the previous first-class season. They were demoted to second-tier cricket.

Karachi Whites reached Rawalpindi on Friday and their coach Salim Jaffar said that all the players were fit and available for the Saturday’s showdown. “Yes, all the players are well and ready for tomorrow game,” Salim told ‘The News’ from Islamabad Airport.

He said that his side could be rated as hot favourites for the eight-team campaign. “We are a good side and I have faith in my players and you can expect title from this team,” said Salim, a former left-arm Test pacer.

As per the squads unveiled by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday, Karachi Whites carry some fine players. Led by Sarfraz Ahmed, Karachi Whites also have Asad Shafiq, Anwar Ali, Rumman Raees, Khurram Maznoor, Haris Sohail, Akbar-ur-Rehman, Tabish Khan, Mir Hamza and Test left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar.

Karachi has a rich T20 history but the city has won one title so far.Before winning the title last season, Karachi Dolphins had reached final for five times which tells how consistently the team from the biggest city of the country has delivered in the shortest format of the game. Faisalabad also have a few solid players like hard-hitting Sohaib Maqsood, young opener Imran Butt, Khurram Shehzad, Asif Ali, emerging opener Sahibzada Farhan, highly experienced left-handed batsman Ali Waqas, dangerous international all-rounder Faheem Ashraf, Test leg-spinner Yasir Shah and all-rounder Imran Khalid. The game will be supervised by Ghaffar Kazmi and Majid Hussain.

It is pertinent to mention here that the teams had been picked through a draft system on August 10. But some changes later were made due to injuries to some players or their engagement elsewhere.

In the other match of the day, Lahore Blues will meet Lahore Whites at 4pm.Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt will lead Lahore Whites who also have Test discard Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal, young all-rounders Aamer Yamin and Amad Butt, Wahab Riaz and Ehsan Adil.

Mohammad Hafeez will skipper Lahore Blues who also have Babar Azam, Ahmed Shehzad, Hussain Talat, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Amir and Junaid Khan. This game will be supervised by Imtiaz Iqbal and Faisal Afridi.

Peshawar, Islamabad, FATA and Rawalpindi are the other teams featuring in the competitions. Each team will play seven matches each. The leading four sides at the end of the single league will make it to the semi-finals to be held on November 25. The final will be played on November 26.

Islamabad have made one change with the injured Imad Wasim being replaced by Raza Hasan and Rohail Nazir coming in place of Mohammad Naqash, both under-19 players.Because of the injury to left-arm international pacer Usman Shinwari, FATA have brought in speedster Ahmed Jamad. They have also replaced injured Sohail Akhtar with Shaheen Shah.