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12 best teams are taking part tournament which will continue till December 22
PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Youth Under-19 Twenty20 Cricket Tournament got underway here at the Arbab Niaz Cricket Stadium on Tuesday under the aegis of the Malik Cricket Academy.
Sports DG Junaid Khan formally inaugurated the event in a colourful opening ceremony. Malik Cricket Academy Managing Director Malik Farman Ali, District Cricket Association President Asghar Ali, Secretary General Hanif Khan, officials and large number of spectators were also present.
Speaking on this occasion, Junaid Khan said that they have allocated a sum of Rs 1.5 billion for the complete rehabilitation of the Arbab Niaz Cricket Stadium among this amount a total of Rs 13 million will be spending. He said that the Arbab Niaz Cricket Stadium would be constructed according to international day need with floodlight facilities, electronic scoreboard, swimming pool, gymnasium, pavilion of international standard, cricket academy like National Cricket Academy Lahore while the capacity of the spectators will also be increased to 13000 to 32000.
He said that work on the new pitches will also be started very soon besides construction a 7-Star Hotel in the vicinity of Arbab Niaz Cricket Stadium in order to facilitate all visiting foreign teams. It would be Pakistan’s first such facility which will be equipped according to international need. He said the Swimming Pool and international standard micro-sonic gymnasium will be added facilities inside the Arbab Niaz Cricket Stadium.
With the construction of new pavilion there will be facilities for the print and electronic media boxes, player dress rooms and changing rooms. He said the bidding has already been done and in the current month, work would be started. The overall project would be completed in two-year time.
He said the overall space of the ground will also be increased so that a practicing two pitches will be part of the overall ground so that each of the visiting teams could be facilitated. Malik Farman said that Syed Fayyaz Ali Shah, former president of the District Cricket Association, has been nominated as patron-in-chief of the organizing committee of the tournament.
He said other members of the committee comprising Sohail Ahmad (president), Waqar Khalil (secretary), Sajid Shah (joint secretary). The tournament will continue till December 22, 2017. Malik Farman Ali said that a total of 12 best teams from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are taking part. Some teams from outside KP are also participating in the tournament, he added.
Earlier, Yasir Shah Cricket Academy Swabid defeated Peshawar Badshah by five wickets in the opening match. Batting first Peshawar Badshah made 102 runs. Nouman and Osama made 48 and 37 runs respectively. For Yasir Shah Academy Aftab Afzal got three wickets, Arshad and Sana Ullah got one wicket each.
In reply, Yasir Shah Academy Swabi chased the target for the loss of five wickets with Danish scored 35 runs and Umar made 26 runs. For Peshawar Badshah Manzoor, Asad and Arsalan got one wicket each.
