Lahore Qalandars select 16 aspiring team members from KP

JAMRUD: Adding another feather to its cap, the Pakistan Super League franchise Lahore Qalandars has completed the player development trials in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by selecting 16 aspiring Qalandars from the province. The players also include a few from the tribal belt.

Qalandars conducted open trials for aspiring players in Abbottabad, Mardan and Jamrud. They finalised the team on Tuesday after final trials in Jamrud.

Director Cricket Operations of Qalandars Aaqib Javed said that selecting 16 players from the KP province was a real test for him and his panel of coaches.

“Players here are extremely talented. It was a tough task for us to select the best from the region. We shortlisted 23 in Abbottabad, 22 in Mardan and around 20 in Jamrud before gathering them again for a final trial to select 16,” said Aaqib Javed.

“The best thing about KP Qalandars is that all the players included in team are from KP or FATA and I’m sure KP will be the best of all the teams,” he said.

Aaqib was joined by Inzamam ul Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Sohail Khan and Shaheen Shah Afridi — the local star, for the trials.

The final trials in Jamrud attracted a large number of fans to the Sports Complex, along with the aspiring Qalandars.

“This is probably the unique event where spectators are in stadium to witness trials. This shows the hunger and love of the people for the game of Cricket. The sight shows the success of our mission of bringing people back to cricket grounds,” said Rana Fawad, Chairman of Lahore Qalandars.

Shaheen Shah Afridi, Pakistan’s young bowling sensation was delighted to see Lahore Qalandars coming to his home town for open trials.

“I’m very happy and thankful that Lahore Qalandars came here. There’s no dearth of talent and passion among youngsters of the tribal belt, we just need proper chance and opportunity to prove ourselves,” said Afridi.

“I’m sure that with efforts like player development program, more and more players from the region will be wearing Pakistan’s shirt soon,” he said.

The 16 players picked from KP include Naseerullah Khan, Atezaz Khan, Junaid Afridi, Saif Rehman, Khizar Qadeer, Sajjad Ibrahim, M Bilal, Saddam Afridi, Shadab, Mohammad Aamir, Habibullah, M Ashraf, Maaz Khan, Umer Khan, Gohar Ali and Sajjad.

The Qalandars in the player development program will now head to Rawalpindi, where trials will be conducted on August 18 and 19.