The 2004–05 ABN-AMRO Twenty-20 Cup was the first edition of the

ABN-AMRO Twenty-20 Cup The National T20 Cup is a men's professional domestic Twenty20 cricket competition in Pakistan. Established in 2005, it is one of the world's oldest Twenty20 cricket leagues. It was the principal T20 competition in the country until 2016, when t ...

, a domestic

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single innin ...

tournament in Pakistan. It was held from 25 to 30 April 2005 in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

. The

Faisalabad Wolves The Faisalabad Wolves was a domestic limited overs cricket team based in Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan. The team was established in 2004 and its home ground was Iqbal Stadium. The team were champions in the maiden season 2004–05 of the ABN-A ...

won the tournament by defeating the

Karachi Dolphins The Karachi Dolphins was a limited overs cricket team based in Karachi which played in National One-day Championship and domestic Twenty20. The Dolphins' home ground was National Stadium in Karachi's north end. The Dolphins were considered one ...

in the final. As the winners, the Faisalabad Wolves were invited to compete in the International 20:20 Club Championship in September 2005, which they won. This was the first Twenty20 tournament in the country, after the introduction of the Twenty20 format in 2003. It was huge success with the final having an attendance of 30,000. It helped increase the popularity of cricket in Pakistan and became an annual tournament. The tournament also involved a match-throwing incident with

Sialkot Stallions The Sialkot Stallions () was a National T20 Cup team, based in Sialkot, Punjab, Pakistan. The team was established in 2004 and its home ground was Jinnah Stadium located in Sialkot. The Stallions was the most successful team in Pakistani Twen ...

captain

Shoaib Malik Shoaib Malik ( Punjabi, ur, ; born 1 February 1982) is a Pakistani cricketer who plays for the Pakistan national cricket team and currently plays for Karachi Kings in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). He was the captain of the Pakistan national ...

Format

The eleven teams are divided into three groups: Groups A and B with four teams each and Group C with three. Each team plays a single

round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament (or all-go-away-tournament) is a competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero ...

and the top team from each group, determined by a point system, advances to the triangular series. The triangular series is another round-robin tournament where the top two teams advance to the final. The position of the teams in the points table is determined by: *Total points *Won *Lost (fewest) *

Net run rate Net run rate (NRR) is a statistical method used in analysing teamwork and/or performance in cricket. It is the most commonly used method of ranking teams with equal points in limited overs league competitions, similar to goal difference in foo ...

Prize money

The winners are awarded a trophy and

Rs. Rupee is the common name for the currencies of India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, B ...

300,000 while the runners-up receive Rs. 150,000.

Results

The top team from each group qualify for the triangular series. : Qualified for triangular series : Qualified for final

Fixtures

:''All times in

Pakistan Standard Time Pakistan Standard Time ( ur, , abbreviated as PKT) is UTC+05:00 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. The time zone is in use during standard time in Asia. History Pakistan had been following UTC+05:30 since 1907 (during the British Raj) ...

( UTC+05:00)''

Group stage

Group A

---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Group B

---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Group C

---- ----

Triangular series

---- ----

Final

Match-throwing incident

The tournament involved a match-throwing incident in the match between the

and the

Karachi Zebras Karachi Zebras was a Pakistani domestic first-class, List A and T20 cricket team, based in Karachi, Sindh. The team was established in 2006 and its home ground was National Stadium, Karachi. Most matches as captain See also * Pakistan Supe ...

, the captain of the Stallions, openly admitted to deliberately losing their match against the

in an attempt to eliminate the

Lahore Eagles The Lahore Eagles was a Faysal Bank T20 Cup team, based in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. The team was established in 2006 and its home ground was Gaddafi Stadium. See also * Pakistan Super League References External linksTwenty 20 Record page fo ...

from the competition. Neither team received points for the match. PCB declared the match void and

were denied a place in the triangular phase of the ABN Amro Twenty20 Cup despite winning their Pool 'B' fixture against

. Malik was expressing his disappointment at earlier decisions in the competition that he felt went against his side and it did not involve any match-fixing or financial implications. Malik's actions were against his code of conduct as a Test cricketer and had effect on the image of Pakistan cricket, the sponsors and the audience. After realising this, Malik later apologised. He was banned for one

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

and fined Rs. 10,000 and 75% of his match fees for two

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

matches.

Media coverage

Ten Sports Sony Sports Network, formerly Sony Pictures Sports Network, and also known as Sony TEN, is a group of Indian pay television sports channels owned by Culver Max Entertainment (formerly Sony Pictures Networks India). The original TEN Sports chan ...

(live)

References

External links

Tournament page on CricketArchive

{{DEFAULTSORT:National T20 Cup 2004-05 Domestic cricket competitions in 2004–05 2004-05 National T20 Cup 2005 in Pakistani cricket Pakistani cricket seasons from 2000–01