Pakistan News – PCB to introduce domestic Pentangular tournament in all formats from next season

The PCB wants to introduce three new domestic tournaments – one in each format – from next season as it seeks to bridge what it sees as a significant gap between the level of domestic cricket and the international game.
The five-team tournament – called Pentangular – will be played in each format and will include 150 of the best players in the country, which looks like the highest level of competition where the best players in the country compete. Each competition will be added to the existing competition in a way; a high-profile ceremony over the Quaid-e-Azam and the President’s award; a 50-over tournament in addition to the one-day National Cup; the T20 event and the long-running National T20 Cup.
The plans are currently in the development stage and are limited beyond the broad details. But ESPNcricinfo understands that PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi has directed various PCB departments to ensure that these tournaments are introduced in the upcoming domestic season. The purpose of these competitions is an internal study conducted by the board when Naqvi took over as chairman earlier this year, after a period of management change that saw Ramiz Raja, Najam Sethi and Zaka Ashraf come and go as board heads.
Tournaments will not be issued – they will be administered and administered by the PCB. Five teams will not be based on local districts. Instead, they will be new businesses with their own management and training setting. Matches are likely to be played on a league basis. The selection of the teams will be done by part of the PCB selection committee, which will distribute the number of players to all the teams, while the rest of the list will be selected by the team managers.
One of the advantages that PCB foresees is first-class games, deep into the season, for the best players. In the past, the players finished the first division season in December (this season the President Trophy ended in February) and with Pakistan usually not playing a Test between the end of their season and July-August, Pentangular is giving the players an opportunity to fill that gap.
But if such a tournament is not played, it will be very painful. Pakistan’s domestic season already has two first class tournaments, one day cup, T20 tournament and PSL. The upcoming season is packed with international commitments: Pakistan will host Bangladesh and England in Tests, a three-match ODI series before the Champions Trophy and then the PSL. Already the Champions Trophy and Ramadan which will be held in March means that the PCB wants to move the PSL to another window, where it plays together with the IPL.
It could result in an extension of their base season, possibly in May. And we will have to deliver long overdue improvements to many stadiums across the country. More tournaments will mean moving beyond relying on Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi and, to a lesser extent, Multan as venues.
If it goes ahead, it will mark yet another revolution in a homegrown program that has been sung or revived almost every year since its inception in the early 1950s. The season that just passed saw a major change in the Quaid-e-Azam’s leadership and the reintroduction – after an absence of several seasons – of the department’s sides. And for all this change, the new pentangular first class competition will not look much different from the six-team Quaid-e-Azam trophy that has existed for four seasons since 2019 – and was brought about for the same reasons of wanting to prioritize quality. upon the multitude.
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