Patron's Trophy (Grade I): Second round gets underway today

Agricultural Development Bank, WAPDA, National Bank, and Habib Bank go into the second round of the Patron's Trophy (Grade I) wishing to extend their first round winning streak. On the other hand, Pakistan International Airlines, Allied Bank, Khan Research Laboratories, and Pakistan Customs, the first round losers, will be hoping to come back into the tournament, when the second round of the trophy starts today.

Like the first round, National Stadium (Karachi), United Bank Sports Complex (Karachi), Iqbal Stadium (Faisalabad) will be hosting one match each. The Qaddafi Stadium, Lahore has not been given any match in this round. In its place, Pindi Stadium, Rawalpindi will accommodate the match between Allied Bank (ABL) and Agricultural Development Bank (ADBP).

In the other three encounters of this round, Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) meet Customs at National Stadium, Habib Bank (HBL) meet National Bank (NBP) at UBL Sports Complex, and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) meet WAPDA at Iqbal Stadium.

It was mainly due to the sporting nature of pitches that all of the first round matches yielded results. It is sincerely hoped that the same kind of tracks would also be prepared for the matches of the second round, so that crickets fans all over the country get to watch top quality cricket, which is absolutely necessary considering the declining interest of public in Pakistan's domestic tournaments.