The five Champions Cup sides will be provided with the services of Waqar Younis, Misbah-ul-Haq, Saqlain Mushtaq, Sarfaraz Ahmed, and Shoaib Malik as mentors for three years.
The PCB explained that the five mentors' first assignments will be the Champions One-Day Cup that is scheduled to start at Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad tentatively from September 12-29. However, not a single word was uttered by the PCB on why Younus was being made a mentor for the Champions Cup and what happens to his role as cricket affairs advisor to Chairman Mohsin Naqvi.
The newly-created Champions Cup will see Pakistan's top men's players feature in the single-league competition, as Faisalabad hosts senior men's domestic games after nearly two years. The last domestic men's 50-over match played at the Iqbal Stadium was in March 2022 between Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Added names of the sides and squads for the Champions Cup will be confirmed in due course by PCB.
"I am pleased to confirm five exceptional champions as mentors for the Champions Cup teams. Their wealth of experience and cricketing knowledge, which, in addition, enriched by their enthusiasm and passionate affinity with the game we all dearly love, will guide the Pakistan Cricket Board in identifying, developing and grooming the next lot across all forms," said Naqvi.
"The step is set to benefit not only the Pakistan men's cricket team but also to help raise domestic cricket equitably with international cricket," he said. The five mentors will be at the forefront of promoting up-and-coming cricketers by charting their work and development, guiding strategies and processes, as well as supporting leadership and personal development.
"PCB is committed to making Pakistani cricket stronger through a stable and clear domestic structure that provides a predictable and systemic pathway to each and every cricketer at all levels. The most talented and skilled players will eventually rise and put on the green shirt," he added.
The five mentors between them have played 1,621 international matches, scoring a total of 32,780 runs and capturing 1,503 wickets. Of these, Sarfaraz and Shoaib are two-time ICC Event winners, Misbah is a once ICC Event winner and ACC Asia Cup 2012 winning captain, while Saqlain and Waqar were in the side that played the 1999 World Cup final.
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