The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) held the first-ever player selection ceremony for its premier first-class tournament Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Season 2017-2018 on Wednesday at Gaddafi Stadium.
Eight regional sides – Lahore Blues, Lahore Whites, Karachi Whites, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Faisalabad, FATA and Peshawar – selected eight players each to complete their set of 20 players for the tournament.
All teams had earlier picked 12 players from their own region; the dozen selected also included two emerging players. The player selection ceremony was held in a cordial atmosphere as all eight regions tried their best to make formidable combinations for the most competitive four-day tournament in the country.
The eight regions expressed their satisfaction at the smooth conduction of the ceremony and wholeheartedly accepted the new system which encourages meritorious selections. Speaking on the occasion, the Cricket Operations Director Haroon Rasheed thanked the regions for their cooperation which re-endorsed the PCB’s trust in the regions.
He said, “The regions are our arms; we want to give them maximum support since they produce talent at the grass root level. Our domestic system is on the road to improvement and that’s the reason that the player selection ceremony was introduced this year to add a new exciting dimension for the players besides further encouraging the role of new blood through induction of two emerging players in each squad.”
