Pakistan, amidst one of their most spectacular slumps, seem to have pinned all their hopes on the freshly announced 50-over domestic tournament, the Champions Cup. At least, that’s what the management is banking on. Ever since Pakistan’s shambolic exit from the T20 World Cup a couple of months ago, PCB Chief Mohsin Naqvi has been hinting at a “surgery” to, apparently, answer all of Pakistan cricket’s woes involving a major system overhaul (once again).
One big (and relatively new) step in this ‘surgery’ process is the introduction of the Champions Cup, a 50-over domestic tournament, announced a few weeks ago. The tournament, if not halted by the incoming of a new PCB chair, is expected to bridge the gap between domestic and international cricket in Pakistan. Recently, a PCB release has announced the captains and the squads for the Champions Cup.
Who will be the Captains?
Five teams—Panthers, Lions, Wolves, Stallions, and Dolphins—will compete, each captained by Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Haris, and Saud Shakeel respectively.
Only Mohammad Haris of the lot has not played any international game for the senior team recently. The young wicketkeeper batter was left out of the T20 World Cup squad earlier this year and this sudden decision to hand him the captaincy of the team that features Pakistan’s white-ball captain, Babar Azam, has not come down as easy for the fans to swallow.
Interestingly, Shaheen Shah Afridi, who was ousted as a T20 captain just before the T20 World Cup, will lead one of the sides as well.
Increasing the player pool:
The tournament features 150 top players, including centrally contracted cricketers, selected based on their performances over the past three years. Of these, 125 players earned their spots through consistent domestic performances, while 25 are wildcards, chosen for their experience in Pakistan’s national and junior teams. Naqvi has previously also mentioned that one of the reasons behind organizing the tournament was to get a larger player pool to turn to.
“The problem is the selection committee has no pool to turn to from which to select players. I spoke of surgery because we need to fix our problems. But when we look at how to resolve them, we don’t have any solid data or player pool which we can draw from. The whole system was a mess. The Champions Cup will produce great talent, and we’ll have records for the games that happen. For surgery, you need all the tools to perform it.”
The Champions Cup will kick off on September 12, with the playoffs set for September 24, 25, and 27, and the final on September 29. All of the matches will be played in Faisalabad.
Who will be sitting out the tournament?
However, a few notable contracted players will be missing including Imad Wasim who is unavailable. Mohammad Nawaz has opted out for personal reasons, and several key figures, including Hasan Ali, Arshad Iqbal, Ihsanullah, and Mohammad Wasim Jr., are undergoing rehabilitation. Other players (not centrally contracted) like Ahsan Ali, Rizwan Hussain, Athar Mahmood, and Zeeshan Zamir, who are also recovering at the National Cricket Academy, will not participate in this edition.
All of the selected players in squads for the Champions Cup had to pass a fitness test before being drafted into the teams. Players including Ali Shafique, Ali Zaryab, Arif Yaqoob, Danish Aziz, Mohammad Rameez Jnr, Saad Baig, Rameez Aziz, Sharjeel Khan, and Shawaiz Irfan, who could not pass the fitness test were left out.
Provisional Squads for the Champions Cup (to be reduced to 15 members per side on 10th September)
Dolphins:
Mentor: Sarfaraz Ahmed
Saud Shakeel (c), Aftab Ibrahim, Asif Ali, Awais Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Kashif Ali, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Huraira, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Muhammad Akhlaq, Muhammad Ghazi Ghori, Muhammad Riazullah, Noman Ali, Qasim Akram, Sameen Gul, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Sahibzada Farhan, Sufiyan Moqim, Umar Amin, Usman Qadir
Lions:
Mentor: Waqar Younis
Shaheen Shah Afridi (c), Abdullah Shafique, Aamir Jamal, Aamer Yamin, Faisal Akram, Hassan Nawaz, Hunain Shah, Imam-ul-Haq, Imran Butt, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Asghar, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Mohammad Taha, Omair Bin Yousuf, Rohail Nazir, Shahab Khan, Sharoon Siraj, Sirajuddin, Waqar Hussain
Panthers:
Mentor: Saqlain Mushtaq
Shadab Khan (c), Abdul Wahid Bangalzai, Ahmed Bashir, Ali Asfand, Ali Raza, Amad Butt, Arafat Minhas, Azan Awais, Haider Ali, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Umar, Mohammad Zeeshan, Mubasir Khan, Rehan Afridi, Rizwan Mehmood, Saim Ayub, Umar Siddiq, Usama Mir, Usman Khan, Usman Salahuddin
Stallions:
Mentor: Shoaib Malik
Mohammad Haris (c), Abrar Ahmed, Adil Amin, Azam Khan, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Hussain Talat, Jahandad Khan, Junaid Ali, Maaz Ahmad Sadaqat, Mehran Mumtaz, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Amir Khan, Saad Khan, Shamyl Hussain, Shan Masood, Tayyab Tahir, Ubaid Shah, Yasir Khan, Zaman Khan
Wolves:
Mentor: Misbah ul Haq
Mohammad Rizwan (c), Fakhar Zaman, Abdul Samad, Akif Javed, Ali Usman, Bilawal Bhatti, Haseebullah, Iftikhar Ahmed, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Faizan, Mohammad Imran Jnr, Mohammad Sarwar Afridi, Muhammad Imran, Naseem Shah, Nisar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Shahnawaz Dahani, Zahid Mehmood, Zain Abbas.
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