Quaid-i-Azam Trophy rolls into action today

ISLAMABAD: The 2018-2019 Quaid-i-Azam Trophy will kick off today (Saturday) with regional cricketers getting better package and departments playing for their survival.

Each player representing a regional team will get richer by Rs50,000 per match, almost a double than what they were getting previously. Even the back-up four players will share Rs50,000. This will be for the first time that the back-up players will get at least something.

Apart from that, every player of the 15-member regional team will receive Rs2,000 each as daily allowance. The reserve players will also get the daily allowance at par with the playing ones.

The four-day Quaid-i-Azam Trophy matches will be followed by one-dayers where each regional player selected in the playing XI will get Rs30,000 per match. Four reserve players will share Rs30,000.

On the other hand, departmental teams are facing a battle of survival following expected change of guards. Former Pakistan captain and now Prime Minister Imran Khan — who is patron in chief of the Pakistan Cricket Board — has always supported city cricket and at the same time has spoken against departmental teams’ inclusion at top level domestic cricket. Expectations are that the new PCB administration will either opt for the first class cricket without departments or will limit their role in the domestic cricket from next year onward.

The season starting from Saturday could well be the last for the departments in the top domestic cricket.

As many as 16 teams are competing in the trophy with eight top departments and as many regions flexing their muscles for the supremacy.

Today’s matches: Pool A: Lahore Whites v SNGPL at LCCA Ground, Lahore; KRL v Peshawar at KRL Stadium; Fata v NBP at Abbottabad Stadium; Islamabad v HBL at Diamond Ground, Islamabad.

Pool B: Wapda v Karachi Whites at National Stadium, Karachi; Rawalpindi v SSGC at Pindi Stadium; PTV v Multan at Multan Stadium and Lahore Blues v ZTBL at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad.