By: Raja Asad Ali Khan
Season twenty-six of Pakistan’s cricketing calendar opened not with a whisper but with extravagance and fanfare, as the City of Saints, Multan, played host to the finest fifty-over showpiece domestic cricket Callander called officially the University of Lahore Champions Cup 2026 organized by the Pakistan Cricket board for this time around exclusively for the sake of talent hunt regarding the World Cup of 2027 to be held in South Africa.
Four sides took the field, each a careful blend of raw promise, proven background and youthful talent, young hopefuls picked from the game’s grass roots stood shoulder to shoulder with established cricketers shortlisted by the National Selection Committee. An elite cadre of PCB officials, coaches, umpires and match referees supervised the matches whose reputations needed no introduction in cricketing circles.
It was for total eight days the players involved themselves to a required rhythm of fifty overs a side day into night cricket comprising seven matches in seven nonstop cricketing days, with only a single day’s respite from Multan’s scorching sun and heat, and yet, remarkably, morale never got down. What emerged was a professional and skillful display of the game’s oldest virtues. Pakistan cricket has long standing weakness with the instability of its batting order, forever since selection committee is looking for consistency, exceptional form many gifted individuals; but here in Multan it was at least, a cause for celebration for fans. A heartening sight to watch Fakhar Zaman register back-to-back centuries, while Sahibzada Farhan, Muhammad Salman, Saad Khan and Shamal Hussain each brought up hundreds of their own.
The tournament also marked something extraordinary for Shaheen Shah Afridi, whose old, familiar menace with the new ball reborn from the very first overs of the competition. He found his typical rhythm early and never relinquished it, his campaign with an unplayable, career-defining spell of seven for thirty-six in the final was a performance that steered Sparaco Paint Pakistan Gold to a thumping 101-run victory over Rivaj Pakistan Green. Around him, Hasan Ali, Naseem Shah, Faheem Ashraf,Shah Nawaz Dhani, Muhammad Husnain and Wasim Junior all bowled with a consistency that may be a helping hand for selectors for future white ball squad rebuilding process.
Younger talents, too, found their moment under scorching Sun, Ali Reza, Rezaullah and Abdul Subhan were given the deserving natural gifts whenever opportunity was provided for a wider field comprising, fifty-three cricketers spread across four star-studded teams, each of them deserving the prestigious platform.
I confess which is based on my personal long-standing experience with Pakistan’s domestic cricket, the administrative craft of PCB stood at something close to its finest level during these eight days in Multan.
It had been a long while since I last walked through the gates of Multan Cricket Stadium, I found it beautifully maintained, a ground that has aged with maintenance and grace. The media enclosure deserves mention with spacious commentary position offering an unbroken, panoramic view of the field for commentators, arguably the finest viewpoint for cricket broadcasters.
Despite Multan’s rising mercury, the curator produced a wicket of real sat standard for One Day cricket which was offering stable bounce for the stroke-makers while still rewarding seam and spin to keep bowlers hopefully interested on it. Shadab, Faisal Akram, Nawaz, Mehran Mumtaz, Irfat Minhas, Sufyan Moqeem, Saad Masood and Mubasir Khan all found ways, through teasing lengths, to trouble the batters on a surface that gave something but nothing easily.
The Pakistan Cricket Board treated this fifty-over showpiece with due importance that it really deserved. Chairman Mohsin Naqvi made a special appearance to Multan, mingling freely with the young cricketers and match officials, director Media Amir Mir was in Multan along with the chairman PCB. GM Domestic cricket Usama Sharoon arrived early during the tournament, while National Selector and Director of the National High-Performance Centre, Aqib Javed, later travelled to Multan to watch the players for himself.
Director Commercial Adnan Zaidi travelled to Multan to inspect all important commercial aspects of the event.
The grand final was graced by PCB Chief Executive Officer Syed Sumair Ahmed, who served as chief guest and presented the prizes to winners and runners-up alike at an impressive closing ceremony.
Head Coach Mike Hesson and bowling coach Ashley Noffke were both constantly present throughout the championship, watching daily performances with an eye firmly fixed on the white-ball needs of the future needs of ODI cricket. Hesson spoke thoughtfully on what it takes to build a strong One-day side while sharing the microphone with Salman Butt in the commentary box during one such discussion. Both men carried out their duties with quiet diligence and sincerity of purpose.
The national selector Misbah-ul-Haq discharged dual duties across those eight days in Multan firstly as National selector by title and secondly head coach of the victorious Pakistan Gold both in sprit and practice.
The rest day, on the seventeenth of August, brought with it an official dinner at the Ramada Pearl-Continental, DHA Multan an evening graced by gathering of cricketing stars, senior PCB officials and sponsors alike and chief guest Director Commercial Adnan Zaidi, the evening’s chief guest, appeared thoroughly satisfied with the commercial dimension of the Champions Cup 2026.
Behind the cameras stood Saif Badar, Chairman of Al Batal Productions who driving force behind PCB’s cricket broadcasts and team branding. Saif Badar’s worked, as ever, from behind the curtain, his tireless efforts richly deserving full praise.
Following my introduction as anchor about the tournament, former captain Salman Butt and commentator Ali Younas followed me and conducted a lively question-and-answer session with the participating cricketers and also with some genuine gathering of cricket’s elite, graced by PCB officials, umpires, referees and proud sponsors alike.
The ancient city of Multan is no longer the sleepy town of a handful of modest restaurants and one or two quality hotels that older visitors might remember, Amazingly It has now transformed into something altogether more cosmopolitan home, as now to national and multinational outlets, branches of established hotels, restaurants, and a growing web of flyovers and underpasses easing the flow of traffic between one corner of the city and another.
An off-day visit to an English tea house along with Salman, Adnan and Ali, We enjoyed a cup of coffee under atmosphere of urban charm, lifted our spirits by watching the surrounding boulevards of branded retail outlets, colorful advertising signage which gives Multan the posh look like of a provincial metropolis.
The commentary panel for the event brought us together former captain Salman Butt, Tariq Saeed, Ali Younas, former Pakistan cricketer Aimen Anwar, and myself each of us doing what we could to help to make the tournament a genuine success. Director of Broadcast Adnan Malik worked tirelessly and with real professional devotion, while Sheraz Mughal and Gardezi Sahib, articulate as ever, proved themselves the men for the big occasion.
Cricket production, of course, is a team effort, from the boyish energy of Sohail Imran to the thoughtful Farhan Nissar and the ever-vigilant Manager of Operations, Zain, each playing a pivotal role by bringing the tournament to television screens and social media platform in the most befitting style.
It was during the broadcast of 14 August, timed to coincide with Pakistan’s Independence Day, a particular tribute was paid to the famous Oval Test victories of August 1954 and August 2016, under the respective captaincies of the great Hafeez Kardar and Misbah-ul-Haq. My fellow commentator Tariq Saeed and my self-paid glowing tribute to those past greats by elaborating the great services of captain Hafeez Kardar, Fazal Mahmood and Wazir Mohammad and other greats who helped to raise Pakistan’s flag on the world map as a sovereign state, defeating England what was then the world’s finest side, an England particular team that had itself just won the Ashes from Australia after couple of decades.
The Pakistan Cricket Board spared no effort in marking the occasion with the pomp and show it deserved by organizing a musical evening on 15 August at Multan Cricket Stadium, the activity featuring a nationally celebrated local singer whose live performance thrilled and entertained the cricketing crowd long after the day’s play had ended.
Multan is, sacred ground the resting place of great Sufis and Qalandars, among them the revered and widely known Hazrat Bahauddin Zakariya, Hazrat Shah Rukn-e-Alam and Hazrat Shams Tabrez, alongside numerous other shrines that mark this city as one of the true spiritual powerhouses of subcontinent.
This is also a city and region that has given Pakistan a remarkable share of its political leadership featuring chief ministers of Punjab, prime ministers, and even a President of the nation have homes and origin to Multan region.
Multan is the city that gave Pakistan a cricket batting genius, Inzamam-ul-Haq, in whose towering honor the state-of-the-art High-Performance Centre now stands adjacent to Multan Stadium.
The country’s finest cricketers were granted the rare privilege of playing this coveted fifty-over format in a city as politically and spiritually rich as Multan, a place with much to teach them how they can reach greater heights.
The National Selection Committee, too, deserves credit for a job well done, drawing together players who have either risen recently or established themselves at the national and international level in the recent past.
I have watched and commented on cricket across every format recently, including the school cricket final held last December at GSL on such recent experience. I say with confidence that the probables assembled in Multan were selected purely on merit and their performance and talent is unquestionably among the finest talents of Pakistan.
It now falls to the cricketers themselves to deliver on the promise the selectors have invested in them.
Ab jis key jee mein aahey voh hi paaye roshni,
Humne to dil jala kay saare aam kar dia.
The PCB’s decision to stage the first event of the domestic season the Champions Cup 2026 in Multan was absolutely bold and correct as despite the unpredictability of the monsoon, the thoughtful planners at PCB headquarters ensured the stakeholders across the board that it will be uninterrupted cricket in Multan, from first ball to last.
The writer is commentator and freelance journalist