PCB’s new domestic format puts Karachi’s Quaid-e-Azam Trophy spot in jeopardy

Karachi—long hailed as the nursery of Pakistan cricket—now faces the alarming prospect of being sidelined. Despite boasting a record 21 titles, Karachi’s team is on the verge of being excluded from the upcoming Quaid-e-Azam Trophy for the first time in history.

The PCB has once again decided to revamp the domestic cricket structure, this time reducing the number of teams in the premier first-class tournament from 18 to just 8.

According to the new plan, the top 6 teams from last season’s points table will qualify automatically, while the remaining 2 slots will be filled by the finalists of the Hanif Mohammad Grade-II Trophy, set to begin on August 15. Karachi, for now, has no team among the directly qualified sides, and if it fails to qualify via Grade-II, the city will be left unrepresented in the country’s top domestic competition for the first time ever.

In past seasons, two Karachi teams regularly participated in the tournament. This drastic development came to light during a meeting between PCB officials and regional representatives in Lahore, chaired by COO Sumair Ahmed Syed. Also present were Director Domestic Abdullah Khurram Niazi, Director High Performance Aaqib Javed, GM Domestic Cricket Junaid Zia, and Chairman’s Advisor Bilal Afzal. Among the regional reps were Tariq Sarwar (Bahawalpur), Sajjad Khokhar (AJK), Zafarullah (DMJ), and Khawaja Nadeem (Lahore). Karachi’s President Nadeem Omar, Gulzada (Peshawar), and Tanveer Ahmed (Larkana) joined via video call.

PCB officials explained that the focus was shifting from quantity to quality. Hence, the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy will now feature only 8 teams, including the top 6 from the 2023-24 season and two from the HM Grade-II final. Exceptional performers from non-qualifying teams in Grade-II may still be selected as guest players for the main tournament.

For reference, last season’s top teams were: Lahore Blues (99 points), Sialkot (90), Peshawar (89), Islamabad (87), Abbottabad (84), and Bahawalpur (82) all of whom automatically qualify. Karachi, despite its rich cricketing history, missed out. In the 2023-24 season, Karachi and Lahore each had two teams participating. One Lahore side failed to qualify, and Rawalpindi also missed out on direct qualification.

The meeting reportedly became tense, with Karachi President Nadeem Omar officially recording his dissent. A verbal clash between Tariq Sarwar and a senior official was also noted but later resolved.

Sources close to Karachi cricket claim the city’s teams actually had a commendable 2023-24 season—winning the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, the National T20 Cup, reaching the National One-Day Cup final, clinching the U19 One-Day Cup, and playing in the finals of the U17 and three-day tournaments. They argue that Karachi’s dip in performance in the last Quaid-e-Azam Trophy was partly due to PCB’s interference in player selection. Key players like Saud Shakeel and Shan Masood were reportedly not allowed to play the early matches, and some Karachi players were shuffled to other teams as guest players.

Karachi cricket circles view the exclusion as unjust for the country’s largest city and a historic hub of talent.