ISLAMABAD: The eighteen-team Inter-Regional National T20 Cup will get underway at three different venues from Friday. The tournament will see 39 matches played across three cities — Faisalabad, Lahore and Multan.
The Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad will host 23 matches, including the knockout stage of the competition. In Lahore, the Gaddafi Stadium and LCCA Ground will serve as the two venues, while the Multan Cricket Stadium will host eight games.
A prize pot of Rs9.4 million will also be up for grabs, with the winning team clinching Rs5 million and the runners-up getting Rs2.5 million. The 18 teams have been divided into four groups, with Karachi Region (Blues), Lahore Region (Whites), Larkana Region, Peshawar Region, and Quetta Region placed in Group A. In Group B, defending champions Karachi Region (Whites) are placed alongside Bahawalpur Region, Dera Murad Jamali Region, Islamabad Region and Lahore Region (Blues).
In Group C, Abbottabad Region, Faisalabad Region, Hyderabad Region and Rawalpindi Region will go head-to-head, while Group D will see AJK Region, FATA Region, Multan Region and Sialkot Region play each other. The top two sides from each group will qualify for the quarter-finals, to be played at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad on March 23 and 24. The semi-finals will be staged on March 26, followed by the final on March 27, all at the same venue.
The double-header matches in Faisalabad, including the opening match between Karachi Whites and Islamabad Region, will begin at 7pm, while the second match on the same day will be played at 11pm. In Lahore and Multan, the action in the first match will get underway at 4.30pm, while the second match will begin at 9pm.
Squads: Abbottabad Region: Adil Naz, Afaq Ahmad, Ahmad Khan, Aitzaz Habib Khan, Aqib Khan, Arshad Iqbal, Fayyaz Khan, Kamran Ghulam, Khalid Usman, Khayam Khan, Mohammad Arif, Sajjad Ali Hashmi, Shahab Khan, Shahzaib Khan and Yasir Shah. Reserve players: Anees Azam, Israr Hussain, Mehroz Rasheed, Mohammad Adil and Riazullah.
AJK Region: Aqib Liaqat, Awais Akram, Basit Ali, Faizan Saleem, Hassan Raza (Captain), Hussnain Nadeem, Mohammad Haider, Nadeem Khalil, Naveed Malik, Qazi Arbaqan, Rohan Qadri, Saad Asif, Salman Irshad, Usman Maroof and Zaman Khan. Reserve players: Ibrar Ahmed, Moin pervaiz, Najam Naseer Kayani, Raja Farhan and Usman Yousaf.
Bahawalpur Region: Muhammad Imran Randhawa (Captain), Ali Shabbir, Aun Shehzad, Hasnain Majid, Imran Khan Snr, Mehran Sanwal, Mohammad Akram, Mohammad Ammar, Mohammad Azab, Mohammad Faizan, Mohammad Faizan Zafar, Mohammad Junaid, Mohammad Shaharyar, Mohammad Shahid, Mohammad Sudais and Salahuddin. Reserve players: Ali Umar, Gulfam Aziz, Khaqan Bashir, Muhammad Alamgir and Shayan Khalil.
Dera Murad Jamali: Abubakar, Basit Ali, Dawood Khan, Fahad Hussain, Farhad Khan, Majid Ali, Mohammad Deen, Mohammad Shahid, Mohammad Uzair, Nasir Khan, Rasool Bakhsh, Shoaib Ahmed, Tariq Jameel, Yasir Hussain and Zahoor Ahmed.
Faisalabad Region: Asif Ali (Captain), Ahmed Safi Abdullah, Ali Asfand, Ali Raza, Ali Shan, Ibtisam-ur-Rehman, Khurram Shehzad, Mohammad Awais Zafar, Mohammad Faizan, Mohammad Kashif, Mohammad Zeeshan, Momin Qamar, Raees Ahmed, Shehzad Gul and Taimur Sultan. Reserve players: Asad Raza, Asim Ali Nasir, Arham Nawab, Atiq-ur-Rehman and Hammad Hamza.
Fata Region: Asif Afridi (Captain), Afaq Ahmed, Azaz Khan, Ifranullah Shah, Khubaib Khalil, Maaz Khan, Mohammad Farooq, Mohammad Naeem, Mohammad Sarwar Afridi, Mohammad Usman, Rehan Afridi, Salman Khan, Sameen Gul, Samiullah Jnr and Shahid Aziz. Reserve players: Aimal Khan, Fazal-ur-Rehman, Khayal Man, Nisar Afridi and Sohaib Khan.
Hyderabad Region: Akbar Khan, Fawad Ahmed, Jawad Ali Bhatti, Kashif Bhatti, Majid Asghar, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Saddam, Mohammad Waqar, Muhammad Azeem Ghumman, Mustafa Nasir, Noman Ali, Rizwan Mehmood, Saad Khan, Sharjeel Khan and Ubaidullah Khan. Reserve players: Asad Malik, Fardeen, Haris Khan, Mohammad Huzaifa and Sheharyar Baloch.
Islamabad Region: Ali Imran, Arsal Sheikh, Farmanullah Khan, Hammad Saddique, Kaleem Dil, Mohammad Umair Riaz, Musa Khan, Naseerullah Khan, Nusratullah, Raja Hamza Waheed, Rohail Nazir, Sarmad Bhatti, Shamyl Hussain, Shayan Sheikh and Umair Afridi. Reserve players: Faizan Riaz, Mohammad Hammad Khan, Mohammad Nadeem, Murtaza Jamal and Rizwan Ali.
Karachi Region Blues: Abdullah Fazal, Aftab Ibrahim, Arish Ali Khan, Bahadur Ali, Fahad Amin, Huzaifa Munir, Jahanzaib Sultan, Kashif Ali, Mohammad Asghar, Mohammad Hamza Sohail, Muhammad Ghazi Ghori, Rameez Aziz, Saifullah Bangash, Wahaj Riaz and Waleed Azeem. Reserve players: Adeel Meo, Aftab Khan, Arbaz Khan, Naveed Ahmed Khan and Sahil Iqbal.
Karachi Region Whites: Afnan Khan, Arif Yaqoob, Danish Aziz, Haroon Arshad, Khurram Manzoor, Khwaja Mohammad Nafay, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Taha, Mohammad Umar, Saad Baig, Saqib Khan, Saud Shakeel, Shan Masood and Sohail Khan. Reserve players: Abdul Moiz, Ashiq Ali, Maaz Khurram Amin, Mohammad Tariq Khan and Sarfaraz Ahmed.
Lahore Region Blues: Farhan Yousaf, Hammad Butt, Hunain Shah, Hussain Talat, Imran Butt, Junaid Ali, Mohammad Arsalan, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Zahid, Nisar Ahmed, Qasim Akram, Salman Mirza, Samama Riaz and Umar Siddiq. Reserve players: Asfand Mehran, Hafiz Usman Nadeem, Hamid Liaqat, Intasar Ali and Khawaja Mohammad Abdullah.
Lahore Region Whites: Ahmed Bashir, Ahmed Daniyal, Attayb Ahmed, Hassan Rizwan, Kamran Afzal, Mohammad Azeem, Mohammad Faiq, Mohammad Mohsin, Mohammad Rameez. Mohammad Saleem, Mohammad Salman, Muhammad Akhlaq, Saad Nasim, Tayyab Tahir, Ubaid Shah and Zain Bin Farooq. Reserve Players: Danish Butt, Imran Dogar, Mohammad Ahsan, Mohammad Waheed and Wasiullah.
