President's Trophy set to begin from 16 December

Karachi: President’s Trophy is set to begin from 16 December 2023. The first-class tournament will be played till 31 January 2024 across three venues – National Bank Stadium, UBL Sports Complex and SBP Sports Complex – in Karachi.

Seven departmental teams will play one another in a round-robin format. The tournament will comprise 22 games, which will be divided as seven rounds of league-stage matches and a five-day final between the top two teams from 27 to 31 January 2024.

The President’s Trophy marks the return of departmental cricket in the domestic structure, as was devised after the reinstitution of the PCB 2014 Constitution. The last edition of President’s Trophy was held in the 2018-19 domestic season, which was won by the State Bank of Pakistan.

Departmental cricket will provide players an extra earning opportunity, as they will get to participate in additional tournaments following the conclusion of the regions-based domestic tournament cycle, which included the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy (Winners: Karachi Whites), Pakistan Cup (Winners: Peshawar) and National T20 Cup (Karachi Whites).

The seven teams participating in the tournament are as follows:

Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL), Pakistan Television (PTV), State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Ghani Glass.

The first-round fixtures are listed below:

SNGPL v Ghani Glass at National Bank Stadium

PTV v SBP at SBP Sports Complex

WAPDA v KRL at UBL Sports Complex

Nadeem Khan, Director – Domestic Cricket Operations, said: “The return of departmental cricket will benefit all the stakeholders. We are hoping that the President’s Trophy will bring even more depth and competition to our domestic circuit.

“We have added HEC and Ghani Glass to this first-class tournament on a probationary basis. We will closely monitor the performances of these two teams in this edition and make decisions about their involvement in the proceeding season based on their competitiveness at the first-class level.”