The squads have been announced for the upcoming Pakistan Cup which is set to take stage in Faisalabad. The tournament will commence from April 19th, 2016.
The tournament which is based on the One-Day International format, comprises of five teams who will contest for the coveted trophy. A total of 150 players were up for grabs in the draft, each team was allowed to pick a total of 14 players. The players who were on show were a blend of youth and experience.
Shoaib Malik, who will be leading the Punjab side picked out of favour cricketer Salman Butt for his team, which was one of the shocking draft picks. Muhammad Amir made it to the Sindh team, which will be led by wicketkeeper batsman Sarfraz Ahmed. Younis Khan, Azhar Ali and Misbah ul Haq will be leading the teams of KPK, Baluchistan and Federal Capital respectively.
Shahid Khan Afridi and Muhammad Asif were unpicked in the draft, which was a sign of concern for both the players.
The squads announced are as follows:
Balochistan
Azhar Ali (capt.), Babar Azam, Mohammad Nawaz, Junaid Khan, Umar Akmal, Usama Mir, Bilawal Bhatti, Shahid Yousuf, Saeed Ajmal, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Ramiz Raja Jr., Mohammad Hassan, Awais Zia, Imran Khan
Federal Capital
Misbah-ul-Haq (capt.), Kamran Akmal, Sharjeel Khan, Imran Khalid, Mohammad Sami, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Irfan, Nasir Jamshed, Asif Zakir, Hassan Ali, Zafar Gohar, Hammad Azam, Sarmad Bhatti, Mohammad Abbas, Arsal Sheikh
KPK
Younis Khan (capt.), Mohammad Asghar, Fakhar Zaman, Yasir Shah, Ahmed Shehzad, Azizullah, Faheem Ashraf, Ramiz Aziz, Rahat Ali, Naveed Yasin, Bismillah Khan, Zohaib Khan, Mussadiq Ahmed, Sadaif Mehdi, Ayatullah
Punjab
Shoaib Malik (capt.), Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Butt, Asad Shafiq, Zulfiqar Babar, Amir Yameen, Saad Nasim, Ehsan Adil, Shan Masood, Asif Ali, Ahmad Butt, Akbar-ur-Rehman, Adnan Ghaus, Kashif Bhatti, Saif Badar
Sindh
Sarfraz Ahmed (capt.), Mohammad Amir, Sohail Khan, Imad Wasim, Sohaib Maqsood, Khalid Latif, Sami Aslam, Khurram Manzoor, Fawad Alam, Anwar Ali, Bilal Asif, Rumman Raees, Mohammad Waqas, Saad Ali, Hassan Khan