Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Shadab Khan, and Shaheen Shah Afridi have been named captains for the four teams participating in the National Champions Cup. The tournament is scheduled to take place in Multan from 11 to 18 August.

Saim Ayub will lead Pakistan Whites, Sahibzada Farhan will captain Pakistan Blues, Shadab Khan will skipper Pakistan Greens, and Shaheen Shah Afridi will command Pakistan Gold. The tournament will follow a single-league round-robin format, with the top two teams advancing to the final on 18 August.

Several players, including Pakistan’s Test squad members and those participating in The Hundred like Abrar Ahmed and Usman Tariq, were not considered for selection. Wrist-spinner Osama Mir is also not on the list finalized by the national selection committee.

According to a statement from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), “The national selection committee has announced set playing XIs for each team along with a tournament reserve pool of 13 players. Teams will field the announced 11 players and can pick from the reserve pool of 13 players only in the case of injury and concussion.”

The 2026-27 event is designed to “provide ample playing opportunities to our best available pool of players for ICC Cricket World Cup 2027 preparations.” In 2024-25, when the event was introduced, it was billed as a tournament “to bring together the best of the best players from its local competitions in order to bridge the gap between domestic and international cricket”. The event was not held in 2025-26.

The National Champions Cup is one of two major domestic tournaments kicking off the 2026-27 season, alongside the eight-team President’s Cup Grade-I, which will be held in Karachi from 21 August to 8 September.

SQUADS:

Pakistan Greens: Shadab Khan (captain), Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Farhan Yousuf, Mehran Mumtaz, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Naseem Shah, Omair Bin Yousuf, Saad Baig (wicketkeeper) and Sameer Minhas

Support staff: Ijaz Ahmed Jnr (head coach), Rehan Riaz (bowling coach), Khurram Shahzad (batting coach), Fahad Iqbal (fielding coach)

Pakistan Whites: Saim Ayub (captain), Akif Javed, Ali Raza, Haris Rauf, Hasan Nawaz, Khushdil Shah, Mohsin Riaz, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Saad Masood, Shahzaib Khan and Usman Khan (wicketkeeper)

Support staff: Iqbal Imam (head coach), Samiullah Niazi (bowling coach), Faisal Athar (batting coach), Saqib Faqir (fielding coach)

Pakistan Blues: Sahibzada Farhan (captain), Ahmed Daniyal, Arafat Minhas, Hasan Ali, Hussain Talat, Jahandad Khan, Rohail Nazir (wicketkeeper), Shamyl Hussain, Sufyan Moqim, Taimur Khan (wicketkeeper) and Tayyab Tahir

Support staff: Aizaz Cheema (head coach), Fahad Masood (bowling coach), Naveed Latif (batting coach), Hussain Khosa (fielding coach)

Pakistan Gold: Shaheen Shah Afridi (captain), Abdul Samad, Abdul Subhan, Faisal Akram, Haider Ali, Kamran Ghulam, Maaz Sadaqat, Mohammad Nawaz, Muhammad Akhlaq (wicketkeeper), Muhammad Imran and Saad Khan

Support staff: Misbah-ul-Haq (head coach), Waqas Ahmed (bowling coach), Riffatullah Mohmand (batting coach), Atiq-ur-Rehman (fielding coach)

Reserve pool:

Batters – Mohammad Suleman, Mohammad Faiq, Muhammad Irfan Khan

All-rounders – Mubasir Khan, Danish Aziz

Pacers – Arshad Iqbal, Muhammad Salman, Razaullah, Saqib Khan, Mohammad Amir Khan, Shahnawaz Dahani

Wicket-keeper – Haseebullah

Tournament schedule: (All matches at Multan Cricket Stadium; All matches to begin at 3pm)

11 August – Pakistan Greens v Pakistan Whites

12 August – Pakistan Blues v Pakistan Gold

13 August – Pakistan Blues v Pakistan Whites

14 August – Pakistan Gold v Pakistan Greens

15 August – Pakistan Blues v Pakistan Greens

16 August – Pakistan Gold v Pakistan Whites

18 August – Final (Top two teams)