As a part of the major surgery, which was expected ever since Pakistan’s senior men’s team’s early departure from the T20 World Cup 2024, where Babar Azam-led men failed to get past the group stages, the incumbent chief of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Mohsin Naqvi, announced three new domestic tournaments to ‘bridge the gap between domestic and International cricket’. Starting 1st September 2024, three five-team tournaments will be introduced to the country’s existing domestic circuit which includes two first-class tournaments; the Quaid e Azam Trophy and President’s Trophy, one List-A competition namely the President’s Cup and two T20 Tournaments including the National T20 Cup and one of the world’s biggest T20 league, Pakistan Super League.
“Our current standings – sixth in Tests, fourth in ODIs, and seventh in T20Is – do not reflect the true potential and legacy of Pakistan cricket,” Naqvi said while addressing the press conference in Lahore.
He added,
“To restore our rightful place at the top of world cricket, we must innovate and strategically enhance, expand, and strengthen our domestic structure. The introduction of the three Champions tournaments is a bold step in this direction. The Champions tournaments will bring together our most talented and consistent performers from domestic cricket with our centrally-contracted players, creating an environment that mirrors the intensity of international cricket.”
The five teams, Dolphins, Lions, Panthers, Stallions, and Wolves, will play one tournament in each format, List-A, First-class, and T20, taking the number of domestic matches from 203 to 261. These 261 games will include 131 first-class matches (across the three events), 40 List-A matches, and 97 T20 matches in three tournaments. The teams will comprise the highest-performing players from the last three domestic seasons as well as centrally contracted players.
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In addition to that, each team will be owned and mentored by an ex-Pakistan cricketer, the details of whom will be released at a later time. The bargain does not end here. The PCB Chief, accompanied by the Chief Operation Officer of the Board, Salman Nasser, and the newly hired adviser to the Chief, Waqar Younis, announced that each side will have player support personnel including Coaches, Physiotherapists, Analysts, and Managers.
“Each side will have a former Pakistan superstar as a mentor and potentially as an owner (mentor and owner names/details to be announced in due course)” the PCB press release mentioned.
The release further read,
“Player support personnel of each side are expected to include: Head Coach (at least Level 3, minimum five years with a first-class side), batting/bowling/fielding coaches (minimum Level 3, three-year experience), Strength and Conditioning Coach, Physiotherapist, Analyst, Operations Manager, and Media/Digital Media Manager
“Each side will have a Corporate Sponsor and Media Partner. Other revenue streams will include broadcast and live-streaming rights, event title sponsorship, ground branding rights and ticket sales/merchandise.”
PCB has also increased domestic players’ contracts to PKR 550,000 for Category 1, PKR 400,000 for Category 2, and PKR 250,000 for Category 3. Likewise, an increase of at least 100% in domestic match fees has also been announced across the formats. In white-ball formats, the fees has been raised from PKR 40,000 to PKR 125,000 in List-A matches and PKR 100,000 in T20 matches. Similarly, the first-class match fees has been revealed to increase from PKR 80,000 to PKR 200,000.
Preliminary schedule for matches in domestic season 2024-25:
First-class:
Quaid-e-Azam Trophy: 20 October-18 December
President’s Trophy (first-class): 6 January-7 March
List-A:
Champions One-Day Cup: 1-29 September*
President’s Cup (50-over): 3-15 October
Champions First-Class Cup: 28 May-5 August*
T20:
Champions T20 Cup: 21 December -2 January*
National T20 Cup: 13-21 March
Pakistan Super League 2025: 10 April-25 May
* new tournaments
