Pak players to feature in three-team T20 tournament ahead of the T20 World Cup

A three-team T20 tournament will be played starting Thursday (January 9) at the National Stadium in Karachi for the players to prepare themselves ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia next month. The final will be played on January 16 under lights for the players to be acclimatized to playing under lights.

The National Triangular T20 Women’s Cricket Championship is an eight-day-long tournament, in which PCB Blasters, PCB Challengers and PCB Dynamites will come face to face for national glory.

"The upcoming T20 tournament provides a great opportunity to the players to prepare for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup," said Urooj Mumtaz, the chairperson of the selection committee. "The decision to play the final of the tournament under lights is taken to emulate the conditions in the T20 World Cup as Pakistan will be playing two of their four group matches under floodlights."

In a move that will boost the fans to watch the matches and also promote the game among girls the Hanif Mohammad and Javed Miandad enclosures will be open throughout the tournament with free entry for spectators.

The winning team will bag PKR500,000, while the runners-up will get PKR250,000.

The best performer of the tournament will be awarded PKR25,000 and the player of the match for every game, will get PKR10,000.

"This is also an opportunity for all the participating players to leave a mark and put forward their case for the selection," said Mumtaz.

"The profile of women’s cricket has grown over the past few years and the decision to live-stream the final is going to attract more fans towards the game."

Pakistan's last international series against England didn't really go to plan and the performances in this tournament could have a say in making a call for the T20 World Cup.

Interestingly, Sana Mir, who has taken a self-imposed break, has been names in the PCB Dynamites team.

Squads:

PCB Blasters -  Rameen Shamim (c), Aliya Riaz, Anam Amin, Ayesha Nasim, Hurraini Sajjad, Javeria Khan, Javeria Rauf, Maham Tariq, Natalia Pavaiz, Neha Sharmin Nadeem, Noreen Yaqoob, Sadaf Shams, Sidra Nawaz and Tuba Hassan

PCB Challengers - Bismah Maroof (c), Aiman Anwar, Syeda Aroob Shah, Ayesha Zafar, Fatima Sana, Hafsa Khalid, Muneeba Ali, Najiha Alvi, Nida Dar, Saba Nazir, Sadia Iqbal, Waheeda Akhtar, Hafsa Amjad and Khadija Chishti

PCB Dynamites – Nahida Khan (c), Diana Baig, Fareeha Mehmood, Ghulam Fatima, Iram Javed, Kainat Hafeez, Kainat Imtiaz, Lubna Behram, Masooma Jaffri, Nashra Sandhu, Omaima Sohail, Sana Mir, Sidra Amin and Umme Hani