National T20 Cup springs into action today

RAWALPINDI: The 3rd edition of the National T20 Cricket (under new structure) springs into action on Thursday (today) here at the Pindi Stadium.

Six association teams will vie for Rs5 million allocated for the winners.

The event was shifted from Multan where it was to start from September 25. Now following the cancellation of the Kiwis tour, the first leg was shifted to Pindi Stadium with new starting dates of September 23.

On the opening day (Thursday) Balochistan are to play Northern at 3pm. Defending champions Khyber Pakhtunkhwa take on Central Punjab in the second match at 7:30pm.

The first leg will run until October 3 at Pindi Stadium, before the action moves to Gaddafi Stadium where the second leg will be staged from October 6-13.

Nearly Rs9 million in total prize money will be up for grabs. The runners-up will receive Rs2.5 million and Rs400,000 will be shared by the tournament’s top performers.

The best performer of every match will get Rd25,000 while the top performer of the tournament’s finale will get Rs35,000.

Balochistan will be led by Imam-ul-Haq. He will rely on the experience of Haris Sohail, Akbar-ur-Rehman and Pakistan U19 opener Abdul Wahid Bangalzai. Balochistan also possess a quality bowling attack with Junaid Khan, Umaid Asif, Khurram Shehzad, Amad Butt, Akif Javed, Yasir Shah and Kashif Bhatti.

Pakistan’s all-format captain Babar Azam leads a star-studded Central Punjab outfit that includes seasoned T20 campaigners Ahmed Shehzad, Hussain Talat, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik.

Babar also has an experienced bowling attack in Ehsan Adil, Hasan Ali, Usman Qadir, Wahab Riaz, Waqas Maqsood, and Faheem Ashraf.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are led by Pakistan all-format wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan. He has a quality batting line-up with Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mussadiq Ahmed and Sahibzada Farhan.

Shaheen Shah Afridi will lead the KP attack, which also has Arshad Iqbal, Imran Khan Snr, Asif Afridi and Imran Khan.

Shadab Khan-led Northern have the services of big-hitting Haider Ali, Asif Ali, Zeeshan Malik and Sohail Akhtar. All-rounders Imad Wasim and Mohammad Nawaz lend great balance to the team.

Northern also possess a fiery pace attack with Sohail Tanvir, Haris Rauf, Musa Khan, Salman Irshad and Zaman Khan.

Sarfaraz Ahmed-led Sindh have a solid batting line-up with Khurram Manzoor, Sharjeel Khan, Ahsan Ali and Shan Masood.

Sindh’s bowling attack consists of Shahnawaz Dahani, Mohammad Hasnain, Rumman Raees, Abrar Ahmed and Zahid Mahmood.

Southern Punjab are led by Sohaib Maqsood, who will have the services of attacking batsmen Zeeshan Ashraf, Azam Khan (transferred from Sindh), and Khushdil Shah.

All-rounders Aamer Yamin, Imran Randhawa and Hassan Khan (transferred from Sindh) provide depth to the squad. Sohaib also has a potent bowling attack at his disposal with Naseem Shah (transferred from Central Punjab), Mohammad Ilyas and Dilbar Hussain spearheading the attack. Young spinner Umer Khan and Faisal Akram provide exciting left-arm-spin orthodox and unorthodox options.