Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will defend their National T20 title under the leadership of Khalid Usman as the all-rounder has been announced the captain of the winners of the 2020 and 2021 editions.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have had an impressive run in the last two editions of the tournament, winning 15 off 24 matches, and will be eager to continue their form when they open their campaign on 31 August, the second day of the tournament, against Central Punjab.

Another tournament win will further stamp Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as a T20 powerhouse, embellish their trophy cabinet with the prestigious silverware and another PKR5million in their bank account.

All-rounder Faheem Ashraf takes the reins of Central Punjab, the runners up of the previous edition, who will lock horns with Yasir Shah-captained Balochistan in the second match of the tournament on the National T20 opening day (30 August).

The tournament will begin with what promises to be a thriller with Saud Shakeel’s Sindh taking on Hasan Ali’s Southern Punjab. Northern, the home side, will begin their campaign on 1 September and will be captained by top-order batter Umar Amin.

The squads, both for the National T20 and Cricket Associations T20 (details below) have been finalised by national men’s chief selector, Muhammad Wasim, in consultation with the six Cricket Associations. The selectors have ensured that the players on the fringes of the national side get the opportunities to continue to push their case for the national selection and this summer’s top performers in the City Cricket Association and Divisional tournaments climb another rung.

The National T20 will be played in two legs with Pindi Cricket Stadium playing host to first 16 of the 33 matches from 30 August till 7 September. Multan Cricket Stadium will stage the second leg between 10 till 19 September.

The National T20 teams will move to Rawalpindi on Thursday (26 August) to commence their preparations of the tournament.

To ensure the players participating in the tournament get their due share of exposure and the fans get to enjoy the action-packed matches, the double-headers from 30 August till 11 September have been scheduled in a manner that they do not clash with the ACC Asia Cup T20.

The first match of the day will commence on 0930 and the second will begin at 1400. From 12 September, the first of the two matches will start at 1500, while the second will begin at 1930.

As the Pakistan Cricket Board continues to incentivise domestic performers, PKR0.4million will be shared equally between the tournament’s top performers (player of the tournament, best batter of the tournament, best bowler of the tournament and best wicketkeeper of the tournament).

The best performer of every match will get PKR25,000 and the player of the final will bag PKR35,000. The team ending second in the tournament will get PKR2.5million.

The head coaches of the first XI teams for the 2022-23 domestic season are: Mushtaq Ahmed (Balochistan), Abdul Razzaq (Central Punjab), Abdul Rehman (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Ijaz Ahmed Snr (Northern), Ghulam Ali (Sindh) and Shahid Anwar (Southern Punjab).

First XI squads:

Balochistan: Yasir Shah (c), Shan Masood (vc), Abdul Wahid Bangalzai, Akif Javed, Ali Waqas, Amad Butt, Asad Shafiq, Haris Sohail, Haseebullah (wk), Hussain Talat, Junaid Khan, Kashif Bhatti, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Junaid and Sajjad Ali

Central Punjab: Faheem Ashraf (c), Abdullah Shafique (vc), Ahmed Shehzad, Ahmed Daniyal, Ali Asfand, Hunain Shah, Irfan Khan Niazi, Junaid Ali (wk), Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Faizan, Qasim Akram, Shoaib Malik, Tayyab Tahir, Usama Mir and Wahab Riaz

Northern: Umar Amin (c), Ali Imran (vc),  Aamer Jamal, Hassan Nawaz, Mehran Mumtaz, Mubasir Khan, Mohammad Huraira, Nasir Nawaz, Rohail Nazir (wk), Salman Irshad, Shoaib Amir, Sohail Tanvir, Umer Khan, Usman Khan Shinwari and Zaman Khan

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: Khalid Usman (c), Kamran Ghulam (vc), Adil Amin, Aamer Azmat, Arshad Iqbal, Asif Afridi, Ihsanullah, Imran Khan Snr, Israrullah, Maaz khan, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Haris (wk), Mohammad Sarwar Afridi, Mohammad Amir Khan and Sahibzada Farhan

Sindh: Saud Shakeel (c), Mir Hamza (vc), Abrar Ahmed, Anwar Ali, Asif Mahmood, Danish Aziz, Omair Bin Yousuf, Rumman Raees, Saad Khan, Saim Ayub, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Sharjeel Khan, Syed Faraz Ali, Zahid Mehmood and Zeeshan Zameer

Southern Punjab: Hasan Ali (c), Salman Ali Agha (vc), Ahmad Bashir, Ali Majid, Amir Yamin, Faisal Akram, Hassan Khan, Mohammad Imran Randhawa, Moinuddin, Mohammad Ilyas, Sameen Gul, Sharoon Siraj, Sohaib Maqsood, Zain Abbas and Zeeshan Ashraf (wk)

Cricket Associations T20

The Cricket Associations T20 tournament, in which the second XI sides of the six Cricket Associations feature, will begin from 2 September and will also be played on a double round robin basis.

Cricket Associations T20 will be staged at the Bugti Stadium, Quetta and the team that finishes on the top of the points table at the completion of the league on 15 September will win the competition.

The teams will travel to Quetta on 26 August, where they will undergo pre-tournament preparations.

The head coaches for the second XI teams for the 2022-23 season are: Habib Baloch (Balochistan), Imran Farhat (Central Punjab), Aftab Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Kamran Khan (Northern), Mohammad Masroor (Sindh) and Syed Iqbal Imam (Southern Punjab).

Second XI squads:

Balochistan: Bismillah Khan (c & wk), Imran Butt (vc), Abdul Hanan, Ayyaz Tasawar, Basit Ali, Daud Khan, Gohar Faiz, Jalat Khan, Mohamamd Shahid, Mohammad Ibrahim Snr, Muhammad Azeem Ghumman, Rasool Bakhsh, Taj Wali, Tariq Jamil and Zainullah Snr

Central Punjab: Rizwan Hussain (c), Muhammad Akhlaq (vc & wk), Abdul Samad, Abid Ali, Ali Shafiq, Asad Raza, Gauhar Hafeez, Haseeb-ur-Rehman, Imran Dogar, Mohammad Irfan Jnr, Mohammad Rameez Jnr, Mohammad Waheed, Mirza Salman, Mukhtar Ahmed and Umar Akmal

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: Rehan Afridi (c & wk), Maaz Ahmed Sadaqat (vc), Ahmed Khan, Arshadullah, Haseeb Khan, Irfanullah Shah, Mohammad Farooq, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Nisar Afridi, Mohammad Usman, Nabi Gul, Niaz Khan, Tahir Khan, Usman Tariq and Zubair Khan

Northern: Umair Masood (c & wk), Musa Khan (vc), Abidullah, Aqib Liaqat, Ather Mehmood, Atif Khan, Farhan Shafiq, Hassan Raza, Kashif Ali, Mohammad Irfan, Shadab Majeed, Sufiyan Muqeem, Taimor Khan, Taimor Sultan and Zeeshan Malik

Sindh: Mohammad Taha (c), Hasan Mohsin (vc), Aliyan Mehmood, Ammad Alam, Arish Ali Khan, Ghulam Mudassar, Jahanzaib Sultan, Kashif Ali, Majid Asghar, Mohammad Afzal (wk), Mohammad Suleman, Mohammad Umar, Rizwan Mehmood, Shahid Mirani and Sohail Khan

Southern Punjab: Rahat Ali (c), Ali Usman (vc), Ahmed Hassan, Ali Imran, Humayun Altaf, Kaleemullah, Majid Ali, Mohammad Jahangir, Mohammad Junaid Awan, Mohammad Shehzad, Mohammad Sudais, Tahir Hussain, Umar Siddiq (wk), Waqar Hussain and Yousaf Babar.