Schedule, squads announced for National Champions Cup

The Pakistan Cricket Board has announced the squads and the schedule of the National Champions Cup, which is set to run from 11 to 18 August at the Multan Cricket Stadium.

All seven matches in the tournament will be day-night with the first ball expected to be bowled at 3pm local time.

The 50-over List-A tournament marks the beginning of the 2026-27 domestic cricket season and will comprise of four teams – Pakistan Greens, Pakistan Whites, Pakistan Blues and Pakistan Gold.

The tournament will see the teams playing on a single-league round-robin basis with the top two contesting for the final on Tuesday, 18 August.

The national selection committee has announced set playing XIs for each team along with a tournament reserve pool of 13 players.

Teams will field the announced 11 players and can pick from the reserve pool of 13 players only in the case of injury and concussion. The reserve players will accompany teams at training and on match-days.

Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Saim Ayub and Sahibzada Farhan are set to lead the sides.

The 44 players and the reserve pool have been selected keeping in mind the preparations for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2027 as the focus shifts on the mega-event.

Squads in alphabetical order

Pakistan Greens:

Shadab Khan (captain), Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Farhan Yousuf, Mehran Mumtaz, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Naseem Shah, Omair Bin Yousuf, Saad Baig (wicket-keeper) and Sameer Minhas

Pakistan Whites:

Saim Ayub (captain), Akif Javed, Ali Raza, Haris Rauf, Hasan Nawaz, Khushdil Shah, Mohsin Riaz, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Saad Masood, Shahzaib Khan and Usman Khan (wicket-keeper)

Pakistan Blues:

Sahibzada Farhan (captain), Ahmed Daniyal, Arafat Minhas, Hasan Ali, Hussain Talat, Jahandad Khan, Rohail Nazir (wicket-keeper), Shamyl Hussain, Sufyan Moqim, Taimur Khan (wicket-keeper) and Tayyab Tahir

Pakistan Gold:

Shaheen Shah Afridi (captain), Abdul Samad, Abdul Subhan, Faisal Akram, Haider Ali, Kamran Ghulam, Maaz Sadaqat, Mohammad Nawaz, Muhammad Akhlaq (wicket-keeper), Muhammad Imran and Saad Khan

Reserve pool:

Batters – Mohammad Suleman, Mohammad Faiq, Muhammad Irfan Khan

All-rounders – Mubasir Khan, Danish Aziz

Pacers – Arshad Iqbal, Muhammad Salman, Razaullah, Saqib Khan, Mohammad Amir Khan, Shahnawaz Dahani

Wicket-keeper – Haseebullah

Tournament schedule:

11 August – Pakistan Green v Pakistan Whites

12 August – Pakistan Blues v Pakistan Gold

13 August – Pakistan Blues v Pakistan Whites

14 August – Pakistan Gold v Pakistan Green

15 August – Pakistan Blues v Pakistan Green

16 August – Pakistan Gold v Pakistan Whites

18 August – Final (Top two teams)