Quaid-e-Azam Trophy will begin on Monday, October 6, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced on Tuesday.
As many as 10 teams will play in four cities – Abbottabad, Islamabad, Peshawar and Rawalpindi – as the domestic cricket season 2025-26 gets into full swing.
The teams will play four-day first-class tournament on a single-league round-robin format. The management has planned a total of nine rounds from October 6 to November 26. The five-day final between the two top teams will take place from November 29 to December 3.
The venues for the 46-match QeA Trophy are Abbottabad Cricket Stadium in Abbottabad. Shoaib Akhtar Stadium in Rawalpindi, Imran Khan Cricket Stadium in Peshawar and Diamond and Marghzar Cricket Grounds in Islamabad. The management will later announce the venue for the final.
Four of these venues, except Peshawar, also played host to the previous edition of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy as well.
The participating teams are Abbottabad, Bahawalpur, FATA, Faisalabad, Islamabad, Karachi Blues, Lahore Whites, Multan, Peshawar and Sialkot.
FATA, Faisalabad, Karachi Blues and Multan have qualified for the QeA Trophy after finishing with the most number of points in the recently concluded Hanif Mohammad Trophy.
In the first round, Sialkot – the defending champions of the tournament – will face Peshawar at the Imran Khan Stadium in a re-match of the previous edition’s final, which the former won by one wicket in a nerve-wrecking contest at the UBL Sports Complex in Karachi.
The squads of each of the 10 teams will be announced in due course.
First round fixtures:
6-9 October
Abbottabad v Bahawalpur at Abbottabad Cricket Stadium
Lahore Whites v Islamabad at Shoaib Akhtar Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi
Peshawar v Sialkot at Imran Khan Stadium, Peshawar
FATA v Multan at Diamond Cricket Ground, Islamabad
Faisalabad v Karachi Blues at Marghzar Cricket Ground, Islamabad
