Balochistan has immense talent, we want to unearth it: Quetta Gladiators’ owner

PSL franchise partners with Red Bull Campus Cricket which will feature Quetta for the very first time

KARACHI: Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Quetta Gladiators has partnered with Red Bull Campus Cricket (RBCC) and are all set to take their talent hunt to Balochistan with team owner Nadeem Omar saying that his team is doing everything they can to bring Balochistan into the limelight.

This is the first time that RBCC would take place in the city of Quetta in Balochistan and Omar has highlighted its importance.

“We have seen that a lot of talent in Balochistan is being neglected for many years. That’s why last year we went there for a talent hunt and unearthed incredible talent,” he said. “We have been doing everything we can to bring Quetta and Balochistan into the limelight. We saw that school cricket is dying and held school tournaments and because of that some players will be seen playing U19 cricket for Paksitan. Now we are going to do a talent hunt in universities through RBCC in Quetta and around Pakistan.”

He further added: “These eight teams from Balochistan’s universities will be given a chance to showcase their talents in one of the biggest global T20 cricket tournaments for university students.”

RBCC will be taking place across eight cities in Pakistan — the last edition was held in seven cities. This year’s edition would include 96 teams from Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Islamabad, Faisalabad, Multan, Hyderabad and Quetta.

And Omar, who revealed that the PSL franchise would be conducting their own talent hunt as scheduled for the end of this year, explained how they plan to find players and induct them in the Quetta Gladiators squad for the future through RBCC.

“Right now we will be selecting the top 11 players from the tournament and will give them a chance to feature in a high-performance training camp. These players will be mentored by Quetta Gladiators’ players while two of the best players from the camp — one from Balochistan and the other from rest of Pakistan — will be selected to play for Gladiators in the All-Stars Muqabla Exhibition match with other PSL franchises,” he said.

He further added that Quetta is a city where no cricket has taken place in the last seven to eight months due to extreme weather, but this tournament will give the people of Quetta and of Balochistan an opportunity to showcase their talent to the world.

“We want Quetta to come forward; this tournament has given Pakistan and Quetta Gladiators names such as Rumman Raees, Hussain Talat and Mir Hamza and we are excited to work with RBCC and are expecting to find some really good cricketers in this edition,” he added.

Meanwhile, former Pakistan captain Moin Khan, who has been mentor for RBCC since the onset, said that Pakistanis’ love and passion from cricket is incomparable.

“This tournament is a way to groom Pakistan’s raw talent by testing them in different matches at the national level and finally pitching them into the international games to polish these talented individuals. Not only will this help groom more talent, it will eventually help Pakistan cricket,” he said.