LAHORE: A new President’s Trophy champion will be crowned next week when SNGPL take on WAPDA in the five-day final at the Gaddafi Stadium on Sunday – a contest that pits a side stacked with Test experience against a team built almost entirely on domestic craft.

Since the tournament’s inception in 1960-61 as the Ayub Trophy, before being branded the Patron’s Trophy and then the President’s Trophy, Pakistan International Airlines and the banks have dominated it. More recently, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines completed a hat-trick of titles before Pakistan Television lifted the trophy last year.

SNGPL qualified for the final after topping the eight-team points table with 137 points. In seven league matches, they won five and lost two. One defeat came in the fourth round against PTV, when they failed to chase 40 and were bundled out for 37.

But more notably, their other defeat came in the second round against WAPDA, when Aqib Khan and Naqeebullah took seven and six wickets in the match, respectively, to steer their side to a six-wicket victory.

WAPDA finished second in the group stage with 120 points, with four wins and two defeats. While SNGPL ended the league stage with a 23-run victory over OGDCL, WAPDA suffered a 210-run defeat against State Bank of Pakistan.

On paper, and on recent form, SNGPL are the stronger of the two sides and favourites to win the final.

SNGPL boasts seven Test players, including Test captain Shan Masood, opener Abid Ali, wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan, all-rounder Amir Jamal, fast bowlers Mohammad Ali and Bilawal Bhatti, and off-spinner Sajid Khan. They also have a crop of promising young talent in Azan Awais, Mohammad Awais Zafar, Omair Bin Yousuf, Ali Zaryab, Mubashir Khan and Saifullah Bangash.

In contrast, WAPDA do not include any international players and will rely on domestic performers, including Mohammad Ammar, Sharoon Siraj, Bismillah Khan, Mohammad Akhlaq, Naqeebullah, Mohammad Zeeshan, Mohammad Adil and Aqib Khan.

WAPDA’s standout performer has been all-rounder Khalid Usman. The 39-year-old has carried his Quaid-e-Azam Trophy form into this competition: after scoring 452 runs and taking 36 wickets for Abbottabad, he has scored 359 runs and taken 18 wickets in the President’s Trophy.

Twenty-year-old Ammar has been the most consistent batter from either side. His 458 runs from six matches place him fifth on the leading run-scorers’ list, headed by State Bank’s Abdullah Fazal (622). For SNGPL, 21-year-old Azan Awais leads the run charts with 394 runs in seven matches, followed by Shan Masood, who has aggregated 356.

Fast bowler Shehzad Gul has been the leading wicket-taker from either side, claiming 38 wickets in five matches. He is closely followed by WAPDA’s 23-year-old Naqeebullah, who has taken 32.

SNGPL made global headlines after being dismissed for 37 against PTV. Now, they have a chance to win the President’s Trophy for the first time — and to ensure that the fourth-round embarrassment does not define their season.

WAPDA will start as underdogs, but they have already shown they can hurt SNGPL. If they strike early and keep the contest tight deep into the final, pressure will shift quickly, and favourites have been known to tighten up when a title is within reach.

Irrespective of what happens at the Gaddafi Stadium over the next few days, the curtain will fall on Pakistan’s 2025-26 domestic first-class season with what should be an absorbing final and a fitting finish to the red-ball calendar.