Peshawar Zalmi, announcing their replacements, drafted Waqar Salamkheil in the silver category for Lungi Ngidi, who was not available for the whole season after being picked in the HBL PSL Draft in December.

The Gladiators from Quetta established themselves as one of the stronger units in the tournament before their form nosedived in the 2020 edition that saw them crash out of the tournament in the league stage for the first time ever and since they are yet to finish in the top four.

The PCB today confirmed 15-player squads of six Cricket Associations teams for Pakistan Cup – the final tournament of the domestic season 2022-23 and the squads are available here.

Imran Butt, Azhar Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Nauman Ali, Fawad Alam and Mohammad Abbas to captain the six Cricket Association teams in the first-class tournament

Wahab Riaz’s all-round performance overshadows Babar Azam’s half-century and Usman Qadir’s four-fer

Pindi will host the event in the first phase from September 23 to October 3 whereas Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium will host the second phase from October 6 to 12.

The announcement means 10 players in A+ category will now receive a monthly retainer of PKR250,000 each, followed by PKR185,000 each for the 40 cricketers in Category A, PKR175,000 each for 40 players in Category B, PKR165,000 each for the 64 players in Category C and PKR140,000 each for the 37 players in category D.

Each Cricket Association squad comprises 40 players – 32 of which will be awarded domestic contracts, to be announced in due course – along with 10 additional players.

Local player representation in Balochistan’s squad increased to 55pc