Pakistan Cup starts today in ‘unsuitable weather’

KARACHI: The five-team Pakistan Cup National One-day Cricket Championship begins at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad, with Punjab taking on Balochistan in the opener on Wednesday (today).

The match will begin at 2:30pm. All the matches will be day-night.Some team officials are not happy with the timing of the event. “It’s not a suitable time for such an event. It’s too hot and not good for such cricket,” a team official said.

In the 50-overs-a-side event, which will last till May 6, teams of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Federal, Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh will showcase their talent.

After a single league engagement, the leading two sides will play the final on May 6.Pakistan’s opening batsman Ahmed Shehzad will lead Balochistan. Kamran Akmal will captain the Federal team.

Umar Amin will lead Sindh and Shoaib Malik will skipper Punjab. Mohammad Hafeez will be the leader of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt will play for Sindh.

Balochistan: Ahmed Shehzad (skipper), Rizwan Hussain, Ramiz Raja Junior, Khushdil Shah, Akbar-ur-Rehman, Faizan Riaz, Rohail Nazir, Bismillah Khan, Mohammad Irfan (FATA), Mohammad Nawaz (vice captain), Sohail Tanvir, Anwar Ali, Mir Hamza, Umar Gul, Shaheen Khan Afridi

Punjab: Shoaib Malik (captain), Zain Abbas, Sahibzada Farhan, Abdul Samad, Asif Ali, Ashfaq Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan (vice-captain), Sohail Akhtar, Usama Mir, Kashif Bhatti, Imran Khan Senior, Mohammad Sami, Wahab Riaz, Shahid Yousuf, Abdul Rehman Muzammil

Federal: Kamran Akmal (captain), Sarmad Bhatti, Abid Ali, Awais Zia, Sohaib Maqsood (vice captain), Ashiq Ali, Saad Nasim, Hussain Talat, Raza Ali Dar, Raza Hasan, Ammad Butt, Salman Ali Agha, Waqas Maqsood, Usman Shinwari, Umaid Asif

Sindh: Umar Amin (captain), Salman Butt, Gohar Ali, Fawad Alam (vice-captain), Iftikhar Ahmed, Danish Aziz, Ramiz Aziz, Adnan Akmal, Mohammad Asghar, Bilal Asif, Aamir Yamin, Junaid Khan, Sohail Khan, Taj Wali, Mohammad Irfan Senior.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: Mohammad Hafeez (captain), Shan Masood (vice-captain), Khurram Manzoor, Israrullah, Umar Akmal, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Saad, Mohammad Irfan (Lahore), Adil Amin, Hassan Khan, Hammad Azam, Zia-ul-Haq, Sameen Gul, Sadaf Hussain, Mohammad Hasan.

April 25: Punjab v Balochistan, April 26: Federal Areas v Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, April 27: Balochistan v Sindh, April 28: KP v Punjab, April 29: Sindh v Federal Areas, April 30: KP v Balochistan, May 1: Punjab v Federal Areas, May 2: Sindh v KP, May 3: Federal Areas v Balochistan, May 4: Punjab v Sindh, May 5: Rest, May 6: Final.