The checkered President’s Trophy five-day final between State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and MIT Solutions will be played at the Bagh-e-Jinnah in Lahore from Tuesday, following a comedy of errors that reflected poor planning and management of the event.

Last week, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), through its event website, announced that the final would be played at the SBP Sports Complex in Karachi a day after the conclusion of the seventh and final round fixtures. The website was then updated to reflect that the final would begin after a two-day gap.

However, on Saturday afternoon, after the SBP team had arrived in Karachi, the PCB announced it was moving the final to the historic Bagh-e-Jinnah in Lahore, with the match to start on Monday. No official reason for the changes was provided, but, according to unconfirmed social media reports, the late changes were made to accommodate one of the sides facing a financial crisis.

An unnamed PCB official, however, told a leading cricket website that the final had been moved not for a specific cricketing reason, but because of the ground’s rich first-class heritage. During the final, the city will also host the England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka teams, which will itself pose operational and logistical challenges. The shifting of the final also means Karachi will have to wait longer to stage its opening first-class match of the season.

Bagh-e-Jinnah hosted three Tests between 1955 and 1959 and last staged a first-class match Nov. 6-8, 2005, between Pakistan A and an England XI. Apart from the three Tests, it has also staged 148 first-class matches since 1923, including three Ranji Trophy matches in the pre-Partition years of 1934, 1942 and 1945.

Meanwhile, SBP and MIT Solutions earned the right to play at the historic ground after securing the top two spots in the eight-team tournament that began Sept. 12. SBP topped the table with 107 points, finishing unbeaten with two wins and five draws. MIT Solutions, who earned promotion to first-class cricket after winning the Grade-II competition, finished second on 96 points with two wins, one defeat and four draws.

Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL), who had also finished bottom in 2025-26 but survived relegation after champions WAPDA withdrew from the competition, have been relegated to Grade-II after finishing eighth and last this season on 72 points.

Kingsmen Academy and Ghani Glass finished level on 89 points, followed by Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) on 83, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) on 76 and Pakistan Television (PTV) on 74. Those five sides retained their first-class status for next season.

SBP and MIT Solutions previously met in the sixth round at the Diamond Cricket Ground in Islamabad, where MIT Solutions secured first-innings lead points in a drawn match. MIT Solutions scored 376 in their first innings before SBP were dismissed for 344. MIT Solutions were 98 for three in their second innings when the match ended.

Khalid Usman was the standout performer in that match, scoring 41 and then taking five for 70. SBP’s Rameez Aziz top-scored with 84.

MIT Solutions opener Mohammad Farooq will enter the final with a chance to finish as the tournament’s leading run-scorer. The 23-year-old has scored 703 runs, including three centuries and two half-centuries. He trails PTV’s Mohammad Taha, who finished the league stage with 730 runs, including three centuries and a half-century, and Kingsmen Academy’s Mohammad Tayyab Arif, who is second with 727 runs, including three centuries and four half-centuries.

SBP opener Hasan Raza has also enjoyed a productive campaign, accumulating 698 runs with three centuries and three half-centuries.

Other notable batters in the final include MIT Solutions’ Atiq-ur-Rehman (545 runs) and Hasnain Nadeem (466), as well as SBP’s Abdullah Fazal (400).

OGDCL’s Mohammad Amir Khan leads the wicket-takers’ chart with 32 wickets, followed by Kingsmen Academy’s Mohammad Ilyas (31) and KRL’s Arshad Iqbal (30). MIT Solutions’ Mohammad Ismail is fourth with 28 wickets.

Ismail would need five wickets in the final to finish as the outright leading wicket-taker, reaching 33 and moving past Amir’s 32. MIT Solutions’ Khalid Usman will begin the match with 25 wickets.

Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Abbas will also feature for SBP. In three matches, Abbas has taken nine wickets and now has 931 first-class wickets in 228 matches since making his debut in February 2009. Of those, 131 came in 33 Tests for Pakistan, whom he has represented since 2017.

Other prominent bowlers expected to feature in the final include SBP’s Sirajuddin (23 wickets), Shahid Aziz (21) and Kashif Bhatti (14), along with MIT Solutions’ Salman Aslam (14).

A total prize pool of 12.7 million Pakistani rupees has been set aside for the tournament. The winners will receive 7.5 million rupees, while the runners-up will collect 4 million rupees.