With Pakistan's three-match T20I series against Australia in early November and the player draft for the next year's HBL Pakistan Super League after it, the upcoming National T20 Cup in Faisalabad throws opportunities to many up-and-coming cricketers to leave a mark. Like it has been the case in the four-day first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, any performance in this year's edition of the National T20 Cup, which runs from 13-24 October, is bound to gain attention as country's top T20 cricketers will form squads of the six First XI cricket association sides.
Players like Adil Amin of Khyber Pakthunkhwa, Nasim Shah of Central Punjab, Ahsan Ali of Sindh, Haris Rauf of Northern, Aamer Yamin of Southern Punjab and Ahmad Butt of Balochistan are some players who have a chance to prove their mettle. Adil Amin (28) has put up performances with both bat and ball in the first phase of the four-day Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. He scored 211 runs at an average of 70.33 with three half-centuries in four innings and his right-arm off-break made him one of the four bowlers to have picked up a five wickets in the first four matches of the first-class tournament.
Nasim Shah, a product of the PCB's U16 development programme, has been with Central Punjab as their First XI player in the first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy tournament and has nine wickets at an average of 26 in three matches - he did not really have to bowl in one of them as Northern's both innings lasted for only 127 in his side's second round fixture. His two outings in the recent ACC U19 Asia Cup bagged him four wickets at 16.25.
Ahsan Ali joins Sindh's First XI after registering a century in his side's Second XI match against Central Punjab in the most recent three-day Quaid-e-Azam Trophy tournament. Haris Rauf who is right-arm fast-bowler left a lasting impression in the 2019 edition of the HBL PSL by snatching one of the rare wins for Lahore Qalandars that also against their arch-rivals Karachi Kings in a high-pressure situation. He took 11 wickets in 10 matches and continued to thump his authority in domestic cricket by taking six wickets at an average of 35.16 in four Pakistan Cup matches in what was his first List 'A' tournament.
Aamer Yamin (29), an all-rounder has two T20Is next to his name. He picked up a wicket on the very first delivery he delivered in the format by trapping Jason Roy LBW in November 2015 and played his last match, to date, in January 2018. Aamer has been in scintillating form. His 142 and match figures of five for 57 played a crucial role to help Southern Punjab to their maiden first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy win earlier this week.
Ahmad Butt is the kind of fast-bowler which every captain wants in the final 10 overs of the opposition innings. He has taken 39 wickets to date and can also bat, which is underscored by five half-centuries in first-class cricket, the most recent coming in his side's fixture against Southern Punjab. In a young fast-bowling unit, under the guidance of Umar Gul, Amad promises to bridge the gap for Balochistan.