Pakistan Cricket Board launches new List A competition with an eye on World Cup 2027

Pakistan’s 2026-27 domestic season is all set to start with a four-team one-day tournament as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is putting special focus on providing players with preparatory opportunities ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2027. The upcoming season will also witness an increase of region-based teams from 18 to 20, with Sialkot and Peshawar regions allowed to have an additional team each.

The Quaid-e-Azam Trophy will also be divided into Gold and Silver divisions, allowing all 16 regions to feature in the first-class competition. Pakistan's domestic season will get underway on August 11 in Multan with the inaugural National Champions Cup, a week-long four-team one-day tournament introduced to assess the country's depth in the 50-over format.

The squads for the competition will be selected by the national selection committee. The National Champions Cup is the first of two one-day tournaments on this season's domestic calendar. It will be followed by the President's Cup, featuring departmental teams, which is scheduled to begin three days after the National Champions Cup concludes.

The PCB has only organised one domestic one-day competition over the past two seasons after scrapping the Pakistan Cup, the regional 50-over tournament, following the 2023–24 season. Before its abolition, both regional and departmental teams had separate one-day competitions on the domestic calendar.

"This year the focus has been pinned on Pakistan men's team's preparations for the Cricket World Cup and for that the Domestic Cricket Operations Department has strategically arranged two List-A tournaments to start the season. With a number of top-quality national and emerging stars appearing this year in the various domestic tournaments, the fans will surely enjoy the coming season and our cricketers will develop by leaps and bounds," Osama Sharoon, PCB's senior general manager for domestic cricket operations, said in a media release.

Sialkot and Peshawar to field two teams

The region-based domestic competitions, namely the Quaid-e-Azam (QeA) Trophy and the National T20 Cup, will now feature 20 teams after Sialkot and Peshawar were granted permission to field two teams each. They join Lahore and Karachi as the only four of Pakistan's 16 regions to have two representative sides. Sialkot and Peshawar will also enter two teams apiece in the age-group competitions.

All 16 regions will participate in the QeA Trophy, which has again been restructured into Gold and Silver divisions. Both divisions are scheduled to begin on November 1. The Gold Division will comprise of the top eight teams, while the remaining 12 sides, including the newly added second teams from Sialkot and Peshawar, will compete in the Silver Division.

This marks the third overhaul of the QeA Trophy's format in as many seasons. Last season, the tournament featured 10 teams, while the 2024-25 edition was contested by all 18 teams representing the country's 16 regions.

President's Trophy to begin on September 12

Before the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy gets underway, the domestic calendar will feature the President's Trophy first-class tournament, contested by eight departmental teams, along with the non-first-class President's Trophy. Both competitions are set to begin on September 12 and will be held simultaneously at venues across Pakistan.

The season will conclude with the National T20 Cup in February and March. As with the QeA Trophy, the tournament will be split into Silver and Gold divisions. The 12-team Silver Division will be played first, followed by the Gold Division, which is scheduled to run from February 23 to March 6.