The SAGA Cricket Premier League will stroll into action here on Tuesday (today) at the Qadhafi Stadium, Lahore. The inaugural match will be played between SAGA Punjab and SAGA Sindh while the second match of the tournament will also played at the same day and same venue between SAGA KPK and SAGA Balochistan.
Speaking at the press briefing held here at the local hotel, SAGA Vice President Ms Haleema Munir, flanked by NCA Director Game Development Aizad Syed, Pakistan Cricket Board GM women wing Shamsa Hashmi, four captains, said "The tournament starts with a colourful opening ceremony today (Tuesday) here at the Qadhafi Stadium where PCB governing board member Shamsa Hashmi, along with SAGA chairperson Mrs Farzana Saif, will grace the occasion as chief guest.
"We have also invited international players in this league but due to some reasons, they couldn't come but in next edition, either foreign players would be part of this tournament or it would be organised at Qatar to provide Pakistan women players' international exposure. NCA Director Game Development Aizad Hussain Syed termed it a healthy tournament for the promotion of women cricket and hoped that this event would provide young and promising talent lot to the cricket board. "There is a dire need to promote women cricket which need sponsors like SAGA Premier League which are committed to this important cause. The more the sponsors are, the more women cricket will flourish."
PCB GM women wing Shamsa Hashmi informed the media that daily two matches would be played and in all, six matches will be played while the seventh will be final to be played between the top two teams of the tournament. "With top national cricketers are participating in the tournament, I am expecting better and competitive cricket and those talented players, who will perform well, will get chance at higher level," Shamsa concluded. The participating four teams are SAGA Punjab, SAGA Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, SAGA Sindh and SAGA Balochistan.