8 teams unveiled for National T20 Cup

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Thursday held players draft for the National T20 Cup at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.

As many as eight regions including Lahore Blues, Lahore Whites, Karachi Whites, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Multan, FATA, and Peshawar selected 14 players each to complete their set of 18 players for the important tournament. All teams had picked four players each before the start of the ceremony; whereas each team had to include at least two Emerging Players in their squads.

Usman Khan Shinwari will lead FATA who also have Shaheen Shah Afridi and Usama Mir in their side while Islamabad will be led by left-arm all-rounder Imad Wasim having Umar Gul and Junaid Khan in their line-up. Veteran all-rounder Shoaib Malik will play for Anwar Ali-led Karachi Kings who will also have the services of left-handed batsman Fawad Alam. Defending champions Lahore Blues will play under the leadership of Saad Nasim who will be accompanied by young Hussain Talat and Salman Ali Agha.

Wicket-keeper batsman Kamran Akmal will hold the command of Lahore Whites who also picked former Pakistan captain Salman Butt, Umar Akmal, and Wahab Riaz.Multan-born Sohaib Maqsood will lead Multan Region while Peshawar and Rawalpindi will play under the captaincy of Mohammad Rizwan and Mohammad Aamir respectively.

Pakistan’s hard-hitting batsman Fakhar Zaman, Sahibzada Farhan, and Waqas Maqsood will be featured in Peshawar.

Moreover, Young leggy Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz and Fahim Ashraf will represent Rawalpindi in the tournament. The National T20 Cup will commence from December 10 to 25 in Multan.

All teams had picked four players each before the start of the ceremony; whereas each team had to include atleast two Emerging Players in their squads. The Player Selection Ceremony was held in a cordial atmosphere, where the regions were represented by Presidents and Coaches.

The junior and senior selection committee members assisted the regional teams to make formidable combinations for the T20 tournament.

Teams: Fata: Usman Khan Shinwari (C), Shaheen Shah Afridi, Khushdil Shah, Asif Afridi, Sohail Akhtar, Mukhtar Ahmed, Adil Amin, Kashif Bhatti, Sameen Gul, Usama Mir, M Saad, Nasir Ahmed, Asad Afridi, Samiullah Jr (E), Bismillah Khan, Abbas Afridi (E), Rehan Afridi, Fazal-ur-Rehman.

Islamabad: Imad Wasim (C), Shan Masood, Umar Gul, Rohail Nazir, Iftikhar Ahmed, Asif Ali, Junaid Khan, Abid Ali, Sohail Khan, Nauman Ali, Faizan Riaz, Ali Sarfraz, Sarmad Bhatti, Ibtisam Sheikh, Arsal Sheikh (E), Shehzad Azam Rana, Ahmed Bashir, Rizwan Ali.

Karachi Whites: Anwar Ali (C), M Asghar, M Sami, Khurram Manzoor, Shoaib Malik, Rameez Raja Jr, Awais Zia, Danish Aziz, M Hasan, Fawad Alam, Raza Hasan, Arshad Iqbal (E), Tabish Khan, Akbar-ur-Rehman, Rahat Ali, Ahsan Ali, Fahad Iqbal, Saim Ayub (E).

Lahore Blues: Saad Nasim (C), Aizaz Cheema, Waqas Ahmed, Hussain Talat, Nauman Anwar, Salman Ali Agha, Ehsan Adil, Raza Ali Dar, M Irfan (SLA), Zaid Alam (E), Rizwan Hussain, Imran Butt, Adnan Akmal, Bilal Khan (E), Bilawal Iqbal, Zain Abbas, Jahid Ali, Salman Fayyaz.

Lahore Whites: Kamran Akmal (C), Salman Butt, Umar Akmal, Wahab Riaz, Umaid Asif, Zafar Gohar, Amad Butt, Hassan Khan, Zeeshan Ashraf, Saif Badar (E), Tayyab Tahir, Naseem Shah (E), Kamran Ghulam, Umar Siddiq, Mansoor Amjad, Ali Khan, Ali Shafiq, Ali Zaryab.

Multan: Sohaib Maqsood (C), M Irfan, Zulfiqar Babar, Aamer Yamin, M Hafeez, Zeeshan Malik (E), Bilawal Bhatti, M Mohsin, M Irfan Khan, Imran Farhat, M Imran Gulraiz, Sadaf Ali, Usman Hasan, Mohsin (E), Imran Rafiq, Hasnain Bukhari, Sadaif Mehdi, Waqar Hussain.

Peshawar: M Rizwan (C), Imran Khan Jr, Israrullah Sahibzada, Farhan Fakhar Zaman, Zohaib Khan, Taj Wali, Ali Imran, Saad Ali, Waqas Maqsood, Nabi Gul (E), M Waqas Jr, Gohar Ali, Sajid Khan, M Ilyas (E), Imran Khan Sr, Raees Ahmed, Suleman Shafqat (E).

Rawalpindi: M Aamir (C), Sohail Tanvir, M Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Umar Amin, Fahim Ashraf, Saud Shakeel, Sami Aslam, Khalid Usman, Hammad Azam, Umair Masood (E), Naved Malik, Zahid Mansoor, Nasir Nawaz (E), Yasir Ali, Jamal Anwar, Nihal Mansoor, Haider Ali (E).