Quetta Gladiators, Red Bull to hold universities T20 event

KARACHI: Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Quetta Gladiators on Wednesday announced its partnership with Red Bull for the forthcoming national campus cricket tournament, an event for the university students of the country.

The event, in which teams from 96 campuses will be taking part, will be conducted in Karachi, Hyderabad, Quetta, Multan, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar and Faisalabad.

The organisers said here at a press briefing that the winners of this T20 event would be sent to Sri Lanka for an event in which seven other nations will also be fielding their national champions of university cricket.

The organisers said that the two best players of the event, one from Balochistan and one from the rest of the country, would be inducted into the All Stars side for an exhibition match against any PSL franchise in the next few months.

“The All Stars Muqabla is the property of Gladiators. They played an exhibition match with Islamabad United in Rawalpindi in February this year before flying out for Dubai for the PSL,” Quetta Gladiators’ owner Nadeem Omar was quoted in a statement released by the franchise.

He also said that 11 other top-rated players would be called up for a high performance camp to help them learn from the mentors.

Red Bull Country Director Faisal Ali Khan said that big names like international all-rounder Hussain Talat, left-arm pacers Mir Hamza and Rumman Raees had been part of the Red Bull campus cricket.

Former Pakistan captain Moin Khan said that such events were a fine way to unearth talent. “The execution of such an event in which 96 campuses from eight cities will feature is very difficult. But it’s a very important event and this time effort will be made to publicise it properly,” Moin said.He said it was also important to promote school cricket.