‘New format to give lots of opportunities to young cricketers’

KARACHI: The much-awaited new format of domestic cricket is likely to be unveiled in July as Prime Minister Imran Khan will see and approve the format, sources confided to ‘The News’ on Tuesday.

The sources said that the PCB high officials have sent the new format based on six regional teams and 16 associations for one-dayers and three-day tournaments to the PM. It is expected that after the budget session in the National Assembly, the PM would see the new format.

The sources said that the cricket fraternity would be delighted by the new format as it has a number of events for the players to show their talent. A number of young players would be accommodated in the new domestic format and fear of their unemployment would be addressed through competitive cricket, they added.

But there is no word about departmental teams in the proposed format, the sources said. They said that Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, National T20, National One-day Cup, and Pakistan Supper League (PSL) would be the major competitions. A three-day matches event and an event for under-23 players are part of the proposed format, they said.

Quaid–e-Azam Trophy would be played from November to January. The teams would be Federal Areas, Sindh, North Punjab, South Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. There would be 31 matches among the six participating teams, played on home and away basis. The sources further said that 16 teams of associations would participate in the National T20 in September.

The 16 associations teams would also participate in three-day non-first class tournament from October to November. Each team would play 10 matches at least. The National One-Day Cup would be organised in April, in which 16 associations would compete. Each team would get at least six matches. Three-day under-23 zonal championship would be held in September. There would be eight groups with a total of 48 zonal teams.