Lahore Qalandars announces scholarship in the name of Shaheen's father

Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Lahore Qalandars have announced a cricket scholarship in the name of Shaheen Shah Afridi's father.

Shaheen Afridi, who led Qalandars to HBL PSL 7 title, was asked to announce selected players from Lahore Qalandars players development program's trials which were held recently.

While speaking to the media, the 22-year-old thanked his franchise for introducing a cricket scholarship in his father's name and added this is a great step by Qalandars' management. 

"I am really thankful to Qalandars' management for introducing cricket scholarship. This will help budding cricketers polish their skills and come to a higher level," he said. 

"Qalandars have always remained on the front line to unearth talented cricketers. I hope the new batch of players will bring talented cricketers to the limelight," he added. 

On 17th May 2022, tens of thousands of aspiring Qalandars appeared in trials that were also extended for one more day to allow everyone the maximum opportunity to showcase their skills and dream of playing for Pakistan.

Following the open trials and further assessment, the management and coaching staff of Lahore Qalandars is proud to announce its next batch of aspiring Qalandars, the class of 2022. These 22 players will get a scholarship for training at HCP to further enhance their skills and get closer to wearing the green jersey.

At this stage, the assessment of 19 students is completed, while 3 are pending for further assessment. The selected players will get a scholarship for one year to train in Qalandars High Performance Centre and to become the next Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, and Fakhar Zaman.

Out of these 22 aspiring Qalandars, five will get a scholarship in the name of Mohammad Ayyaz Khan Afridi (father of Shaheen Shah Afridi). 

It is worth mentioning that Yorkshire County Cricket Club's (YCCC) Managing Director and Former England Fast Bowler Darren Gough, Assistant Coach of YCCC Kabir Ali, and other coaches and management were also present during the trials.

The management of YCCC was amazed to see the thousands of players who participated in PDP from all over Pakistan to become the next cricket icon. They also wished to replicate this program for Yorkshire.