National Twenty20 Cup 2023-24 rolls into action in Karachi today

Staff Report

KARACHI: National T20 Cup is set to begin from November 24 and will last until December 10. 18 teams will partake in the tournament which is scheduled to be played across four venues – National Bank Stadium, UBL Sports Complex, HPC Oval Ground and NBP Sports Complex – in Karachi. All matches played at National Bank Stadium will be broadcasted on PTV Sports and ARY ZAP in Pakistan, and live-streamed on YouTube in overseas territories. Double-header matches at National Bank Stadium will begin at 1500 PKT and 2000 PKT, with toss conducted at 1430 PKT and 1930 PKT respectively. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has also announced free entry for spectators for all matches being played at National Bank Stadium. The Hanif Mohammad, Javed Miandad and Fazal Mahmood enclosures will be accessible to the spectators. The 63-match tournament has been structured to open with group stage games, which will be followed by Super Eight matches. A total of 32 group stage matches are set to be played from 24 to 28 November. 18 participating teams have been put into four groups.

The division of groups is as follows:

Group A: Lahore Whites, Peshawar, Karachi Blues, Larkana and Quetta

Group B: Lahore Blues, Karachi Whites, Islamabad, Hyderabad, and Dera Murad Jamali

Group C: Rawalpindi, Abbottabad, Faisalabad and Bahawalpur

Group D: Multan, Sialkot, FATA and AJK

The first set of fixtures will see Lahore Whites face Larkana and Karachi Blues face Peshawar at NBP Sports Complex in Group A. In Group B, Karachi Whites will play against Islamabad and Hyderabad will feature against DM Jamali at UBL Sports Complex. Rawalpindi will take on Abbottabad and Faisalabad will face Bahawalpur at National Bank Stadium for Group C and lastly, for group D, HPC Oval Ground will stage the Multan-Sialkot clash and FATA-AJK game. Top two teams from each group will progress to the Super Eight stage, which will be played in a round-robin format from 1 to 8 December. The complete schedule for Super Eight games will be revealed in due course. Following the Super Eight stage, the top four teams will qualify for the semi-finals. Both semi-finals are scheduled to be played on 9 December at National Bank Stadium, at 1500 PKT and 2000 PKT respectively. The final is scheduled to be played at the same venue on 10 December. The toss will take place at 1930 PKT and the first ball will be bowled at 2000 PKT.

The winning team of the tournament will pocket a prize money of PKR 5 million. Meanwhile, the tournament runners-up will be awarded PKR 2.5 million. The player of the tournament will be rewarded with PKR 250,000. The same amount has been allotted to three other awards; best batter, best bowler and best wicket-keeper of the tournament. The player of the final will receive PKR 50,000 while player of the match in each of the Super Eight games and the semi-finals will be given PKR 25,000. This is the first edition of the tournament played since the PCB 2014 Constitution was reinstated. The previous edition of National T20, which featured six sides, was won by Sindh who clinched their maiden title after defeating defending champions Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by eight wickets. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa lost out on securing a hat-trick of titles after winning both the 2020-21 and 2021-22 editions.