NBP refusal creates President’s Trophy schedule issue

KARACHI: The departmental cricket teams’ participation in Pakistan’s domestic cricket system is going to start in Karachi from December 15 after a gap of four years as the PCB has sent the schedule of matches to participating teams.

But still there are some complications in organising the 29 matches among the 8 participating teams, The News learnt on Wednesday. According to informed sources, some departmental cricket teams have requested the PCB to increase the deadline of submission of entry fees of the President’s Trophy. The entry fee is Rs1.2 million.

Besides, a departmental cricket team has declined to participate in the event saying right now it is not ready to participate in the event. Sources said that PCB accepted the request of departmental cricket teams and gave more time for the submission of the fee.

But at the same time, the refusal of a team to participate in the President’s Trophy is a big problem. How the PCB tackles this situation when it has announced the schedule of the 29 matches is yet to be seen.

Sources said some departmental cricket teams failed to allocate the sports budget during the year 2023. Thus, they are not prepared to participate in the event as they have not had enough time to establish their teams.

Establishing a strong cricket team for domestic cricket competitions is a big task and takes a long time. Departments have to contact players, coaches, and other officials. Sources connected to the developments informed this scribe that the NBP has declined to participate in the President’s Trophy, but its name has been included in the participating 8 teams and its matches have been scheduled at the State Bank stadium.

When this correspondent contacted the NBP sports officials, they confirmed that they would not participate in the President’s Trophy this year.

NBP also did not participate in the National Hockey Championship this year in Rawalpindi. They further said that there are a few requirements, including budget allocation, appointments and contracts of players, coaching staff, and other officials; thus, they wanted some time to reestablish their sporting teams in various disciplines, including cricket.

They vowed that in the coming months they would reestablish their sports teams in various disciplines and start participation in domestic competitions in 2024. It was also learnt that the PCB domestic committee will call a meeting to review the situation.