On three-year contracts, Waqar Younis, Misbah-ul-Haq, Saqlain Mushtaq, Sarfaraz Ahmed, and Shoaib Malik have been named as the five Champions Cup teams’ mentors. According to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), the first task for the five mentors will be the Champions One Day Cup, which is scheduled to start on September 12–29 at Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad. However, the PCB remained silent about Younis’s role as a mentor in the Champions Cup and his future as Chairman Mohsin Naqvi’s counselor on cricket matters.
Faisalabad to host the new Champions Cup
After nearly two years, senior men’s domestic games will return to Faisalabad as part of the newly established Champions Cup, featuring Pakistan’s best male athletes in a single-league competition. Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa played their final domestic men’s 50-over match at the Iqbal Stadium in March 2022. PCB stated that the teams’ and squads’ names for the Champions Cup will be verified eventually.
“I’m happy to announce that the Champions Cup teams will have five outstanding champions serving as mentors. Together with their love for the game we all love, these people bring a wealth of cricketing experience, knowledge, and skill that will aid the Pakistan Cricket Board in identifying, fostering, and developing the next generation of players in all formats of the game”, according to Naqvi.
The role of new mentors
“This project will help close the gap between domestic and international cricket, in addition to benefiting the Pakistan men’s cricket team. These five mentors will be crucial to the growth and advancement of our future cricket players. They will assist leadership and personal development activities, as well as team-building and strategic planning.” Naqvi said.
“The PCB is dedicated to bolstering Pakistani cricket by providing a strong local framework that provides a transparent and competitive route for all cricket players. The best players will rise through the ranks to play at the top level for Pakistan,” he continued.
Together, the five mentors have participated in 1,621 international matches, amassing 32,780 runs and claiming 1,503 wickets. Of the five, Misbah is the ACC Asia Cup 2012 winning captain and a one-time ICC Event winner, Sarfaraz and Shoaib are two-time winners of ICC Events, while Saqlain and Waqar were on the team that competed in the 1999 World Cup final.
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