Ramiz Raja’s dream project, a PSL-like U19 T20 tournament named Pakistan Junior League (PJL 1), is set to begin on October 1st. The hyped contest will be played at Lahore’s Gadaffi stadium and composes six participants in the maiden edition.
The six teams are named Gujranwala Giants, Mardan Warriors, Bahawalpur Royals, Hyderabad Hunters, Gwadar Sharks, and Rawalpindi Raiders. The teams will perform under their mentors, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Imran Tahir, Darren Sammy, Vivian Richards, and Colin Munro, respectively. Javed Miandad will overall assist the six-team mentor panel.
PJL 1 Qualifiers:
PJL 1 first round will be played on a single-league basis. The teams will play once against each other, which means each team will play five games in the first round, making a total of 15 matches. The top four teams on the PJL 1 points table will qualify for the Qualifiers round.
The first match of the Qualifiers, Qualifier 1, will see ranked number one and two teams battling. The winner of this match will qualify for the final, whereas the loser will have another chance. The next match of the Qualifiers round will be Eliminator, in which ranked 3 and 4 teams will battle.
The losing side will go home, whereas the winners of Eliminator 1 will proceed to Qualifier 2, where they will tackle the losers of Qualifier 1. The winner of Qualifier 2 will then qualify for the PJL 1 final, scheduled to take place on October 16th.
Notably, the league’s opener has been scheduled to take place between Gujranwala and Mardan. Here is the PJL 1 complete schedule:
PJL 1 complete schedule:
6 October – Gujranwala Giants vs Mardan Warriors
7 October – Bahawalpur Royals vs Hyderabad Hunters
8 October – Rawalpindi Raiders vs Gwadar Sharks; Gujranwala Giants vs Bahawalpur Royals
9 October – Hyderabad Hunters vs Gwadar Sharks; Rawalpindi Raiders vs Mardan Warriors
10 October – Bahawalpur Royals vs Mardan Warriors
11 October – Hyderabad Hunters vs Rawalpindi Raiders
12 October – Gujranwala Giants vs Gwadar Sharks
13 October – Mardan Warriors vs Hyderabad Hunters
14 October – Rawalpindi Raiders vs Gujranwala Giants; Bahawalpur Royals vs Gwadar Sharks
15 October – Hyderabad Hunters vs Gujranwala Giants; Bahawalpur Royals vs Rawalpindi Raiders
16 October – Mardan Warriors vs Gwadar Sharks
18 October – Qualifier 1 (1 vs 2)
19 October – Eliminator (3 vs 4)
20 October – Qualifier 2 (Loser Qualifier 1 vs Winner Eliminator)
21 October – Final (Qualifier 1 Winner vs Qualifier 2 Winner)
All the doubleheaders will be played at 3:30 PM and 8:00 PST, whereas the single headers will start at 8:00 PM PST.
Match timings:
Double-headers – 3:30 pm and 8:00 PM PST respectively
All single-headers – 8:00 PM
PJL 1 complete squads:
Bahawalpur Royals:
Elite Category: Arham Nawab (vice-captain), Nathan Edwards (West Indies), Obaid Shahid (c), Sajjad Ali
Premier Category: Mohammad Zeeshan, Rehan Ahmed (England), Basit Ali, Ali Razzaq, Nangeyalia Kharotai (Afghanistan)
X-factor Category: Farhan Yousaf, Mohammad Tayyab Arif, Shahwaiz Irfan, Mohammad Danish, Ahmed Hussain, Gabriel Gallman-Findlay
Gujranwala Giants:
Elite Category: Ali Asfand, Azan Awais, Uzair Mumtaz (c), Tom Aspinwall (England)
Premier Category: Mohammad Ibtisam, Ariful Islam (Bangladesh), Hasnain Majid, Shevon Daniel (Sri Lanka), Mohammad Shan
X-factor Category: Mohammad Waqas, Hasan Ali Jnr, Mohammad Aqib Asghar, Saqlain Nawaz, Hamza Nawaz, Matthew Tromp (USA).
Gwadar Sharks:
Elite Category: Joseph Eckland (England), Danial Ibrahim (England), Haseeb Nazim, Muhammad Ismail
Premier Category: Arafat Minhas, Luc Martin Benkenstein (England), Mohammad Shoaib, Saad Masood, Shamyl Hussain
X-factor Category: Momin Qamar, Mohammad Abubakar, Aftab Ahmed, Muhammad Zulkifal, Adnan Iqbal, Kushal Malla (Nepal).
Hyderabad Hunters:
Elite Category: Saad Baig (c), Afaq Khan, Aftab Ibrahim, Isai Thorne (West Indies)
Premier Category: Haseeb-ur-Rehman, Muneeb Wasif, James Ross Wood (England), Lahiru Dawatage (Sri Lanka), Arbaz Khan
X-factor Category: Mohammad Zubair Jnr, Moeez Rana, Hassan Iqbal, Fahad Amin, Salman Ahmed, Ali Naseer (UAE).
Mardan Warriors:
Elite Category: George Thomas (England), Abbas Ali (c), Archie Lenham (England), Abdullah
Premier Category: Daud Nazir, Haseeb Khan, Muhammad Nabeel, Olly Cox (England), Mohammad Farooq
X-factor Category: Mohammad Irfan, Aimal Khan, Zohaib Khan Shanzaib, Syed Tayyab Hussain, Shahzaib Khan, Burhan Niaz (Belgium).
Rawalpindi Raiders:
Elite Category: Habibullah (c), Ali Ishaq, Afnan Khan, Hassan Eisakhil (Afghanistan)
Premier Category: Ali Raza, Kai Smith (England), Aseer Mughal, Amir Hassan, Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar (Afghanistan)
X-factor Category: Ziaullah, Usman Khan, Wahaj Riaz, Haroon Arshad, Naveed Ahmed Khan, Charlie Tear (England).
