PCB announces teams and captains for upcoming Champions Cup

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has revealed the captains and provisional squads for the upcoming Champions One-Day Cup, set to take place in Faisalabad from 12 to 29 September.

Five teams will compete in the tournament, each led by captains appointed by their team mentors.

Misbah-ul-Haq (Wolves), Saqlain Mushtaq (Panthers), Sarfaraz Ahmed (Dolphins), Shoaib Malik (Stallions), and Waqar Younis (Lions).

Pakistan’s Test vice-captain Saud Shakeel will lead the Dolphins, while Shaheen Shah Afridi, the former Pakistan T20I captain, will captain the Lions.

Shadab Khan, former white-ball vice-captain, will take charge of the Panthers.

Mohammad Haris, the captain of Pakistan Shaheens, will captain the Stallions, and ex-all-format vice-captain Mohammad Rizwan will head the Wolves.

The Champions One-Day Cup will feature Pakistan’s top cricket talent and be played in a single-league format.

Matches will start at 3 PM, except for the Lions vs Panthers game on 16 September, which will begin at 9:30 AM.

The tournament will end with three playoff matches before the final on 29 September.

The opening game on 12 September will see Misbah-ul-Haq’s Wolves face Saqlain Mushtaq’s Panthers at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad.

The PCB has also released provisional squads for the tournament, selected by the team mentors through a draft from a pool of 150 players.

Fitness tests were a key factor for the selection, and players with domestic contracts had to pass these tests.

The final squads will be cut to 15 players on 10 September, with fitness tests for centrally contracted players scheduled for 7 and 9 September.

Among the selected 150 players, 125 were top performers from the last three domestic seasons, and 25 were picked as wildcards based on their performances for Pakistan and other national teams.

Each team includes existing centrally contracted players. These are:

• Dolphins: Saud Shakeel, Faheem Ashraf and Sarfaraz Ahmed

• Lions: Abdullah Shafique, Aamir Jamal, Imam-ul-Haq and Shaheen Shah Afridi

• Panthers: Saim Ayub, Shadab Khan and Usama Mir

• Stallions: Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Haris, Shan Masood, Tayyab Tahir and Zaman Khan

• Wolves: Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Salman Ali Agha and Shahnawaz Dahani

Certain players, including Mohammad Nawaz, Imad Wasim, and Mohammad Abbas, have made themselves unavailable due to personal reasons or commitments with other leagues such as the CPL.

Additionally, some players, including Arshad Iqbal, Hasan Ali, and Ihsanullah, are undergoing rehabilitation and will miss the tournament.

In addition to Imad Wasim, currently participating in the CPL, the following players have also made themselves unavailable for the Faisalabad tournament: Ahmed Shehzad, Azam Khan, Haris Sohail, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ilyas, and Umar Akmal. Fakhar Zaman, who is also engaged in the CPL, is expected to return on 10 September.

Several players are undergoing rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy, including Ahsan Ali, Athar Mahmood, Rizwan Hussain, and Zeeshan Zamir, alongside Arshad Iqbal, Hasan Ali, Ihsanullah, and Mohammad Wasim Jr.

Nine domestic players, including Ali Shafique, Ali Zaryab, Arif Yaqoob, Danish Aziz, Mohammad Rameez Jnr, Saad Baig, Rameez Aziz, Sharjeel Khan, and Shawaiz Irfan were left out after failing their fitness tests.

However, players like Hunain Shah, Sameen Gul, Sufiyan Moqim and Shahnawaz Dahani have returned after completing rehabilitation and passing their fitness tests.

Squads (to be reduced to 15 players on 10 Sep):

DOLPHINS: Saud Shakeel (captain, Karachi), Aftab Ibrahim (Karachi), Asif Ali (Faisalabad), Awais Ali (Gujranwala), Faheem Ashraf (Kasur), Kashif Ali (Rawalpindi), Mir Hamza (Karachi), Mohammad Huraira (Sialkot), Mohammad Abbas Afridi (Peshawar), Muhammad Akhlaq (Kamoki), Muhammad Ghazi Ghori (Karachi), Muhammad Riazullah (Peshawar), Noman Ali (Hyderabad), Qasim Akram (Lahore), Sameen Gul (Jamrud), Sarfaraz Ahmed (Karachi), Sahibzada Farhan (Peshawar), Sufiyan Moqim (Kotli), Umar Amin (Rawalpindi) and Usman Qadir (Lahore)

Mentor – Sarfaraz Ahmed

LIONS: Shaheen Shah Afridi (captain, Peshawar), Abdullah Shafique (Sialkot), Aamir Jamal (Islamabad), Aamer Yamin (Multan), Faisal Akram (Multan), Hassan Nawaz (Islamabad), Hunain Shah (Lahore), Imam-ul-Haq (Lahore), Imran Butt (Lahore), Khushdil Shah (Bannu), Mohammad Asghar (Karachi), Muhammad Irfan Khan (Mianwali), Mohammad Taha (Karachi), Omair Bin Yousuf (Karachi), Rohail Nazir (Islamabad), Shahab Khan (Mardan), Sharoon Siraj (Sahiwal), Sirajuddin (Bajaur) and Waqar Hussain (Okara)

Mentor – Waqar Younis

PANTHERS: Shadab Khan (captain, Islamabad), Abdul Wahid Bangalzai (Quetta), Ahmed Bashir (Lahore), Ali Asfand (Faisalabad), Ali Raza (Sheikhupura), Amad Butt (Sialkot), Arafat Minhas (Multan), Azan Awais (Sialkot), Haider Ali (Attock), Mohammad Hasnain (Hyderabad), Mohammad Umar (Karachi), Mohammad Zeeshan (Faisalabad), Mubasir Khan (Rawalpindi), Rehan Afridi (Khyber), Rizwan Mehmood (Hyderabad), Saim Ayub (Karachi), Umar Siddiq (Lahore), Usama Mir (Sialkot), Usman Khan (Karachi) and Usman Salahuddin (Lahore)

Mentor – Saqlain Mushtaq

STALLIONS: Mohammad Haris (captain, Peshawar), Abrar Ahmed (Karachi), Adil Amin (Peshawar), Azam Khan (Peshawar), Babar Azam (Lahore), Haris Rauf (Islamabad), Hussain Talat (Lahore), Jahandad Khan (Rawalpindi), Junaid Ali (Lahore), Maaz Ahmad Sadaqat (Peshawar), Mehran Mumtaz (Rawalpindi), Mohammad Ali (Sialkot), Mohammad Amir Khan (Swat), Saad Khan (Hyderabad), Shamyl Hussain (Islamabad), Shan Masood (Karachi), Tayyab Tahir (Sarai Alamgir), Ubaid Shah (Lahore), Yasir Khan (Rawalpindi) and Zaman Khan (Mirpur)

Mentor – Shoaib Malik

WOLVES: Mohammad Rizwan (captain, Peshawar), Fakhar Zaman (Abbottabad), Abdul Samad (Faisalabad), Akif Javed (FATA), Ali Usman (Multan), Bilawal Bhatti (Muridke), Haseebullah (Pishin), Iftikhar Ahmed (Peshawar), Kamran Ghulam (Peshawar), Mohammad Faizan (Faisalabad), Mohammad Imran Jnr (Peshawar), Mohammad Sarwar Afridi (FATA), Muhammad Imran (Khanewal), Naseem Shah (Lahore), Nisar Ahmed (Lahore), Salman Ali Agha (Lahore), Shahnawaz Dahani (Larkana), Zahid Mehmood (Dadu) and Zain Abbas (Multan)

Mentor – Misbah-ul-Haq

Event schedule (all matches at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad; 16 Sep match will start at 9.30am, rest of the matches will start at 3pm):

12 Sep – Wolves v Panthers
13 Sep – Stallions v Lions
14 Sep – Dolphins v Panthers
15 Sep – Wolves v Stallions
16 Sep – Lions v Panthers
17 Sep – Dolphins v Wolves
19 Sep – Stallions v Dolphins
20 Sep – Lions v Wolves
21 Sep – Panthers v Stallions
22 Sep – Dolphins v Lions
24 Sep – Qualifier (Team No.1 v Team No. 2)
25 Sep – Eliminator 1 (Team No.3 v Team No.4)
27 Sep – Eliminator 2 (Losing Qualifier v Winning Eliminator 2)
29 Sep - Final