National One-day Cup for Regions: Upbeat Karachi Whites take on Faisalabad today

KARACHI: The last edition’s runners-up Karachi Whites will be looking to take an impressive start when they face Misbah-ul-Haq-led Faisalabad in their opener of the National One-day Cup for Regions at the KRL Ground in Rawalpindi on Thursday (today).

Karachi Whites will be led by Test cricketer Asad Shafiq. Karachi Whites coach Saleem Jaffar is confident that his team will be successful in the eight-team event, which will last till February 11. “I am very hopeful as we have a good combination,” Saleem told ‘The News’ from Rawalpindi.

“We have some fine batsmen in skipper Asad Shafiq, Khurram Manzoor, Fawad Alam and Akbar-ur-Rehman. In pace bowling we have Mohammad Sami, Zia-ul-Haq and Tabish Khan and our spin attack comprises Mohammad Asghar and Azam Hussain who are very good one-day bowlers,” the former left-arm Test pacer said.

Karachi Whites will be missing Test pacer Sohail Khan who has fitness issues.Faisalabad will be without the services of Test leggie Yasir Shah and international hard-hitting batsman Sohaib Maqsood who have decided not to play in this event. Yasir is busy in professional league in Australia while Sohaib is going to get married.

The other players in the squad are Khurram Shahzad, Asif Ali, Raees Ahmed, Hassan Mehmood, Shayan Sheikh, Ali Shan, Zain Abbas, Abdul Samad, Waqas Maqsood, Naseer Akram, Atif Jabbar, Asad Raza, Ahmed Safi, Ibtisam Sheikh, Attique Rehman and Bilal Asif.

Ghaffar Kazmi and Tariq Rasheed will supervise the match, and Masood Anwar will be the match referee. At the Pindi Stadium, Rawalpindi will lock horns with Islamabad. This match will be telecast live.

Riazuddin and Muhammad Sajid will supervise the outing, while Waleed Yaqoob will be the television umpire and Nadeem Arshad the referee. At National Ground, Islamabad, Lahore Blues will face Lahore Whites and FATA will meet holders Peshawar at Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad.

It is pertinent to mention here that seven matches of the league stage and three of the knock-out round which will be played at the Pindi Stadium will be telecast live. This is the first time that such a large number of the national one-day tournament matches will be televised.

Each team will face all the other teams once. The leading four sides progress to the semi-finals, which will be held at the Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi, on February 8 and 9. The final will be conducted at the Pindi Stadium on February 11.