PCB announces six association squads for domestic season

KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Tuesday announced six associations’ squads for the domestic season 2019-20 which begins with the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy from September 14.

“The local coaches and juniors selectors had initially prepared the provisional squads of 32 players per side before they were reviewed and finalised by a three-member independent panel comprising Misbah-ul-Haq, Nadeem Khan and Rashid Latif, who also took into account the players’ performances in the past three seasons,” the PCB said.

The PCB centrally contracted cricketers who are not handed the domestic contracts will feature in domestic events when not on national duty, the Board said. “They have been divided equally among the Cricket Associations to ensure top-quality and competitive cricket,” it added.

White ball specialists have also been allocated to the six teams, who will be remunerated as per the domestic match fee model. The six sides will assemble in the cities on September 11 in order to prepare for their opening round fixtures of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.

The onus of leading the association sides in the domestic season has been put on the young and emerging international and domestic players. The PCB has also brought in the concept of mentorship, which will see former Test cricketers – with heaps of first-class experience – groom cricketers in the Second XI sides.

“Of the 32 contracted players with Balochistan Cricket Association, 44 per cent are from the province. Rubbing shoulders with seasoned first-class and Test cricketers from around the country will help them develop the requisite skills for this level,” it added.

The board said it aimed to have maximum representation from Balochistan in the next three to five years. Rshid said that the performances in the past three years across all formats was kept under consideration before finalising the squads.

“We preferred players in early 20s who have shown improvement,” he added. Those whose performances had gone down and were also old were let go, which was a tough decision, Rashid was quoted as saying.

“There might be questions on why there are only four local players in the First XI and ten in the Second XI teams from the Balochistan Cricket Association. The purpose behind making the call is to groom these players.

“Nadeem Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq and I have recommended the PCB to have 90 percent local players in the Balochistan sides,” Rashid said. “We have focused on the emerging under-19 players, who often get left out, after noticing their performances and have selected leg-spinners because there’s a dearth of bowlers who can execute that skill. We have to start searching for the replacements of Yasir Shah and Shadab Khan from today,” he said.

“We have given the role of mentor to Zulfiqar Babar, Aizaz Cheema and Mohammad Sami.“From the next season they will adopt a new career. They will play in the Second XI and mentor the players,” he said.

Sarfraz will lead Sindh, Haris Sohail will skipper Balochistan, Mohammad Rizwan has been announced as skipper of KP, Babar Azam will lead Central Punjab, Imad Wasim will lead Central and Shan Masood will be the skipper of Southern Punjab.

Balochistan: First XI: Imran Farhat (vice-captain) (Lahore), Abu Bakar (Faisalabad), Ali Shafiq (Sialkot), Ammad Butt (Sialkot), Asif Zakir (Karachi), Azeem Ghumman (Hyderabad), Bismillah Khan (wicket-keeper) (Quetta), Hussain Talat (Lahore), Imran Butt (Lahore), Khurram Shehzad (Faisalabad), Mohammad Asghar (Quetta), Shahbaz Khan (Quetta), Shahzaib Ahmed Khan (Karachi), Taimur Khan (Quetta), Taj Wali (Peshawar), Umar Gul (Abbottabad).

PCB contracted players: Haris Sohail (captain) (Sialkot), Imam-ul-Haq (Lahore), Yasir Shah (Swabi).

Officials: Altaf Jaffery (Manager), Arshad Khan (head coach), Shoaib Khan (assistant coach).

Second XI: Akbar-ur-Rehman (captain) (Karachi), Akhtar Shah (Quetta), Atif Jabbar (Sialkot), Awais Zia (Rawalpindi), Dawood Khan (Quetta), Fahad Iqbal (Karachi), Gohar Faiz (Quetta), Gulraiz Sadaf (wicket-keeper) (Multan), Haseeb Azam (Rawalpindi), Jalat Khan (Quetta), Mohammad Junaid (Quetta), Nazar Hussain (Quetta), Rameez Raja (Quetta), Shehzad Tareen (Quetta), Taimur Ali (Quetta) and Usama Razzaq (Quetta).

Officials: Raj Hans (manager cum head coach), Aslam Sheikh (assistant coach).

White ball specialists: Akif Javed (Kohat), Ibtisam Sheikh (Hyderabad) and Mohammad Talha (Faisalabad).

Central Punjab: First XI: Ahmed Shehzad (vice-captain) (Lahore), Ahmed Bashir (Lahore), Ali Shan (Faisalabad), Bilal Asif (Sialkot), Ehsan Adil (Faisalabad), Fahim Ashraf (Faisalabad), Kamran Akmal (wicket-keeper) (Lahore), Mohammad Saad (Lahore), Nasim Shah (Lahore), Rizwan Hussain (Lahore), Saad Naseem (Lahore), Salman Butt (Lahore), Umar Akmal (Lahore), Usman Salahuddin (Lahore), Waqas Maqsood (Faisalabad) and Zafar Gohar (Lahore).

Officials: Khalid Niazi (manager), Ijaz Ahmed Jr (head coach), Samiullah Khan Niazi (assistant coach).

PCB contracted players: Babar Azam (captain) (Lahore), Azhar Ali (Lahore) and Hassan Ali (Lahore).

Second XI: Ali Waqas (captain) (Faisalabad), Abdullah Shafiq (Sialkot), Ahmed Safi Abdullah (Faisalabad), Aizaz Cheema (mentor) (Lahore), Ali Zaryab (Lahore), Asad Raza (Faisalabad), Atiq-ur-Rehman (Faisalabad), Ayaz Tasawar (Sialkot), Bilawal Iqbal (Lahore), Farhan Khan (wicket-keeper) (Lahore), Irfan Niazi (Faisalabad), Mohammad Akhlaq (Lahore), Mohammad Ali (Sialkot), Raza Ali Dar (Lahore), Suleman Shafqat (Faisalabad) and Zahid Mansoor (Rawalpindi).

Officials: Naveed Anjum (manager cum head coach), Akram Raza (assistant coach).

White ball specialists: Nasir Nawaz (Rawalpindi), Nauman Anwar (Sialkot) and Usman Qadir (subject to availability) (Lahore).

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: First XI: Sahibzada Farhan (vice-captain) (Peshawar), Adil Amin (Peshawar), Ashfaq Ahmed (Peshawar), Iftikhar Ahmed (Peshawar), Imran Khan Sr (Peshawar), Irfan Khan (FATA), Israrullah (Peshawar), Junaid Khan (Abbottabad), Kamran Ghulam (Abbottabad), Mohammad Ilyas (Peshawar), Musaddiq Ahmed (Peshawar), Nabi Gul (Peshawar), Rehan Afridi (wicket-keeper) (FATA), Sameen Gul (FATA), Umar Khan (FATA) and Zohaib Khan (Peshawar).

PCB contracted players: Mohammad Rizwan (captain) (Peshawar), Fakhar Zaman (Mardan) and Usman Khan Shinwari (Peshawar).

Officials: Farrukh Zaman (manager), Kabir Khan (head coach), Wasim Haider (assistant coach).

Second XI: Khushdil Shah (captain) (FATA), Ahmed Jamal (Abbottabad), Akbar Badshah (Peshawar), Arshad Iqbal (Abbottabad), Asad Afridi (FATA), Asif Afridi (FATA), Atizaz Habib Khan (Abbottabad), Azizullah (Peshawar), Gohar Ali (wicket-keeper) (Peshawar), Irfanullah Shah (FATA), Khalid Usman (Abbottabad), Mehran Ibrahim (Peshawar), Mohsin Khan (Charsadda), Mohammad Naeem (FATA), Sajid Khan (Peshawar) and Samiullah Jr (FATA).

Officials: Riffatullah Mohmand (manager cum head coach), Sajid Shah (assistant coach).

White ball specialists: Imran Khan Jr (Peshawar), Mohammad Arif (Abbottabad) and Mohammad Mohsin (Swat).

Northern: First XI: Umar Amin (vice-captain) (Rawalpindi), Afaq Raheem (AJK), Ali Asad (Karachi), Ali Sarfraz (Islamabad), Asif Ali (Faisalabad), Haider Ali (Rawalpindi), Hammad Azam (Rawalpindi), Haris Rauf (Islamabad), Mohammad Nawaz (Rawalpindi), Musa Khan (Islamabad), Nauman Ali (Hyderabad), Rohail Nazir (wicket-keeper) (Islamabad), Sadaf Hussain (Rawalpindi), Sohail Tanvir (Rawalpindi), Umar Waheed (Rawalpindi) and Waqas Ahmed (Sialkot).

Officials: Shakeel Ahmed (manager), Mohammad Wasim (head coach), Manzoor Elahi (assistant coach).

PCB contracted players: Imad Wasim (captain) (Islamabad), Shadab Khan (Rawalpindi) and Shaheen Shah (FATA).

Second XI: Faizan Riaz (captain) (Islamabad), Ali Imran (Islamabad), Hasan Raza (AJK), Jamal Anwar (wicket-keeper) (Rawalpindi), Naved Malik (Rawalpindi), Raza Hasan (Sialkot), Salman Irshad (AJK), Sarmad Bhatti (Islamabad), Shadab Majeed (AJK), Shehzad Azam (Islamabad), Shoaib Ahmed Minhas (Rawalpindi), Tauseeq Shah (Rawalpindi), Umair Khan (Islamabad), Umair Masood (wicket-keeper) (Rawalpindi), Usama Mir (Sialkot) and Zeeshan Malik (Rawalpindi).

Officials: Tahir Mahmood (manager cum head coach), Saeed Anwar Jr (assistant coach).

White ball specialists: Mohammad Amir (Rawalpindi), Sohail Akhtar (Abbottabad) and Zaid Alam (Lahore).

Sindh: First XI: Anwar Ali (Karachi), Fawad Alam (Karachi), Hasan Mohsin (Karachi), Kashif Bhatti (Hyderabad), Khurram Manzoor (Karachi), Mir Hamza (Karachi), Mohammad Hasan (wicket-keeper) (Karachi), Mohammad Hasnain (Hyderabad), Omair Bin Yousuf (Karachi), Rameez Aziz (Karachi), Saad Ali (Karachi), Saud Shakeel (Karachi), Shehzar Mohammad (Karachi), Sohail Khan (Karachi), Tabish Khan (Karachi) and Waleed Ahmed (Karachi).

PCB contracted players: Sarfaraz Ahmad (captain) (Karachi), Asad Shafiq (vice-captain) (Karachi), Abid Ali (Lahore).

Officials: Rashid Khan (manager), Azam Khan (head coach), Umar Rasheed (assistant coach).

Second XI: Mohammad Sami (captain and mentor) (Karachi), Rameez Raja Jr (vice-captain) (Karachi), Adeel Malik (Karachi), Ahsan Ali (Karachi), Ammad Alam (Karachi), Ashiq Ali (Karachi), Ashir Qureshi (Karachi), Danish Aziz (Karachi), Ghulam Muddasar (Karachi), Hassan Khan (Karachi), Jahid Ali (Karachi), Mohammad Suleman (Hyderabad), Mohammad Waqas (Hyderabad), Rumman Raees (Karachi), Saad Khan (Hyderabad) and Saifullah Bangash (wicket-keeper) (Karachi).

Officials: Tauseef Ahmed (manager cum head coach), Shaukat Mirza (assistant coach).

White ball specialists: Abrar Ahmed (Karachi), Ahsan Jamil Mirza (Karachi), Shahnawaz Dahani (Larkana).

Southern Punjab: First XI: Sami Aslam (vice-captain) (Karachi), Abdul Rehman Muzammil (Multan), Adnan Akmal (wicket-keeper) (Lahore), Amir Yamin (Multan), Bilawal Bhatti (Sialkot), Imran Rafiq (Multan), M Irfan (SLA) (Lahore), M Irfan Sr (LFM) (Multan), Mohammad Hafeez (Lahore), Rahat Ali (Multan), Saif Badar (Sialkot), Sohaib Maqsood (Multan), Umaid Asif (Sialkot), Umar Siddiq (Lahore), Zahid Mehmood (Hyderabad) and Zain Abbas (Multan).

PCB contracted players: Shan Masood (captain) (Karachi), Mohammad Abbas (Sialkot) and Wahab Riaz (Lahore)

Officials: Shahid Butt (manager), Abdul Rehman (head coach), Zahoor Elahi (assistant coach).

Second XI: Naved Yasin (captain) (Multan), Salman Ali Agha (vice-captain) (Lahore), Ali Usman (Bahawalpur), Anas Mustafa (Lahore), Ataullah (Bahawalpur), Maqbool Ahmed (wicket-keeper), (Multan) Mohammad Ali Khan (Multan), Mohammad Basit (Multan), Mohammad Imran (Bahawalpur), Mohammad Irfan Jr (Nankana Sahib), Mohammad Mohsin (Lahore), Mohammad Umair (Bahawalpur), Mukhtar Ahmed (Sialkot), Zeeshan Ashraf (Okara), Zia-ul-Haq (Vehari) and Zulfiqar Babar (mentor) (Multan).

Officials: Sajjad Akbar (manager cum head coach), Javed Hayat (assistant coach).

White ball specialists: Ali Khan (Sialkot), Shoaib Malik (Sialkot) and Sadaif Mehdi (Multan).