LAHORE: Following the completion of first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, which produced high-quality red-ball action, the focus has now shifted to white-ball cricket as the Pakistan Cricket Cup is being commenced on Friday (today).

The 33-match tournament, to be played on double-league basis, will be staged at three Karachi venues – NBP Sports Complex, State Bank Stadium and UBL Sports Complex. State Bank Stadium will host the two semi-finals on 29 and 30 January and the final on January 31.

Continuing its policy of providing easy access to fans to ball-by-ball live domestic cricket action, the Pakistan Cricket Board will broadcast 13 matches – 10 group and three knockouts from the State Bank Stadium.

The tournament carries nearly Rs 10 million in prize money as the PCB continues to incentive top-performers. The tournament winners will bag Rs 5 million, while the runners-up will pocket Rs 2.5 million.

The best performers of the tournament – Player of the Tournament, Best Batsman, Best Bowler and Best Wicketkeeper – will equally share Rs 1 million amongst them and Rs 800,000 will be given to 32 players who receive Man of the Match award in group matches and semi-finals. The Player of the Final will receive Rs 35,000.

Meanwhile, the six head coaches have finalised their 16-player squads, in which opportunities have been provided to those young cricketers who have given impressive performances over the course of the 2020-21 domestic season.

After helping his team staged an outstanding comeback in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Hasan Ali will continue to lead Central Punjab, who shared the title with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the final ended in an epic tie. The squad included all 11 players who played the final along with Ahmed Bashir, Bilal Asif, Rizwan Hussain, Sohaibullah and Tayyab Tahir.

Khalid Usman will remain at helm of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa team and will have hard-hitting top-order batsman Fakhar Zaman, the leading run-scorer in the National T20 Cup, as his deputy.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021