The 2017–18 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy was the 60th edition of the

Quaid-e-Azam Trophy The Quaid-e-Azam Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket competition in Pakistan. With few exceptions, it has been staged annually since it was first played during the 1953–54 season. Domestic cricket in Pakistan has undergone many reorganis ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

's domestic first-class

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

competition. It was contested by 16 teams representing eight regional associations and eight departments, and took place from 26 September to 25 December 2017, spanning almost two weeks less than originally planned. Pakistan's former

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

captain

Misbah-ul-Haq ; born 28 May 1974) is a former Pakistani cricket coach and former international cricketer. Misbah captained Pakistan in all formats and is former head coach and former chief selector of the Pakistan national team. A late bloomer, Misbah was a midd ...

was critical of the compressed schedule and the quality of the pitches saying "it takes time to prepare a good pitch for a game and nobody can make it in two days". The format of the competition remained the same as the previous season, with two round-robin group stages and a

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

. The regions and departments were divided evenly between the two groups for the preliminary group stage, with the four top teams in each advancing to a "Super Eight" group stage; the top team in each of the Super Eight groups contested the final. In a change from 2016–17, the

Pakistan Cricket Board The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is a sports governing body for cricket in Pakistan responsible for controlling and organising all tours and matches undertaken by the Pakistan national cricket team. A member of the International Cricket Counc ...

(PCB) introduced a

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...

system for the regional teams. beat defending champions by 103 runs to win the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy for the third time in four years.

Draft

With the aim of improving the competitiveness of the regional associations, partly by distributing experienced players among them, proposals for the introduction of a draft system were presented to the PCB's governing board on 28 July 2017. The draft system gained approval after initial objections from some of the larger associations, led by

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

, and a compromise was reached on the number of players to be selected via the draft. Each regional team selected eight players via the draft, ten through the normal selection process along with two emerging players from the under-19 circuit. The teams completed their player selection on 6 September 2017.

Competition summary

Faisalabad Faisalabad (; Punjabi/ ur, , ; ), formerly known as Lyallpur (Punjabi, Urdu: لائل پور), named after the founder of the city, but was renamed in 1977 in honour of late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It is the 3rd largest city of Pakis ...

and made their returns to first-class competition after winning the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy and

Patron's Trophy The Patron's Trophy was a cricket competition that was held in Pakistan between 1960–61 and 2018–19 mainly among teams representing the government and semi-government departments, corporations, commercial organisations, business houses, banks, ...

Grade-II competitions respectively in 2016–17; they replaced the relegated (PIA) and

Karachi Blues Karachi cricket teams competed in the Pakistani first-class cricket tournaments the Patron's Trophy and Quaid-e-Azam Trophy from 1953-54 to 2018-19. Beginning with the 2019-20 season, the city of Karachi has been represented in the Quaid-e-Azam T ...

in the competition. Like the previous season, both promoted teams enjoyed only a brief stay in the top-tier as they were relegated at the end of the season. In Pool A, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited,

Sui Southern Gas Company The Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), () formerly known as Sui Gas Transmission Company Limited, is a Pakistani natural gas supply company based in Karachi, Pakistan. History It was formed in 1955. The company in its present shape was formed o ...

Lahore Blues Lahore cricket teams, representing the city of Lahore, competed in Pakistan's first-class cricket tournaments from 1958–59 to 2018–19. They have also competed in the national 50-over and Twenty-20 tournaments as the Lahore Lions. Teams Fr ...

and Water and Power Development Authority all progressed to the

Super Eight Super 8 or Super Eight may refer to: Film * Super 8 film, a motion picture film format released in 1965 * Super 8 film camera, a motion picture camera used to film Super 8mm motion picture format * ''Super 8'' (2011 film), a science-fiction fi ...

section of the tournament. They were joined by

United Bank Limited United Bank Limited (UBL) () is a Pakistani multinational commercial bank which is a subsidiary of British company Bestway Group. It is based in Karachi, Pakistan. It is one of the largest banks in the Pakistani private sector, with over 1,400 br ...

Habib Bank Limited Habib Bank Limited ( ur, ) abbreviated as HBL, is a Pakistani multinational bank based in Habib Bank Plaza, Karachi, Pakistan. Founded in 1939 by the Habib Family, HBL became Pakistan's first commercial bank. In 1951 it opened its first inte ...

Khan Research Laboratories The Dr. A. Q. Khan Research Laboratories, ( ur, ) or KRL for short, is a federally funded, multi-program national research institute and national laboratory site primarily dedicated to uranium enrichment, supercomputing and fluid mechanics. It ...

and

Lahore Whites Lahore cricket teams, representing the city of Lahore, competed in Pakistan's first-class cricket tournaments from 1958–59 to 2018–19. They have also competed in the national 50-over and Twenty-20 tournaments as the Lahore Lions. Teams F ...

from Pool B. On 26 November 2017, the dates for the first round of the Super Eight fixtures were postponed by the PCB, due to ongoing religious unrest which had also disrupted the fixture schedule for the 2017–18 National T20 Cup. The Super Eight round was originally scheduled to start on 29 November 2017, but this was moved back to 3 December 2017. Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited won Group 1 of the Super Eight round, beating Lahore Blues by six wickets to advance to the final. In the match, the first three innings were each completed without a side scoring three figures, the first time this had ever happened in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. Water and Power Development Authority won Group 2, despite losing to Sui Southern Gas Corporation by seven wickets in their final match. In the final, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited beat Water and Power Development Authority by 103 runs to win the competition for the third time in the last four years. Samiullah Khan was man of the match after he took his career-best bowling figures of 8 for 62 in the second innings and his 25th five-wicket haul in first-class cricket.

Teams

The following teams competed in the 2017–18 tournament: Regional associations *

Federally Administered Tribal Areas , conventional_long_name = Federally Administered Tribal Areas , nation = Pakistan , subdivision = Autonomous territory , image_flag = Flag of FATA.svg , image_coat = File:Coat of arms ...

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...

Karachi Whites Karachi cricket teams competed in the Pakistani first-class cricket tournaments the Patron's Trophy and Quaid-e-Azam Trophy from 1953-54 to 2018-19. Beginning with the 2019-20 season, the city of Karachi has been represented in the Quaid-e-Azam Tr ...

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

* Rawalpindi Departments *

National Bank of Pakistan National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) () is a Pakistani government-owned multinational commercial bank which is a subsidiary of State Bank of Pakistan. It is headquartered in Karachi, Pakistan. As of September 2020, it has 1,511 branches across Pakist ...

Pakistan Television Pakistan Television Corporation ( ur, ; reporting name: PTV) is the Pakistani state-owned broadcaster. Pakistan entered the television broadcasting age in 1964, with a pilot television station established at Lahore. Background Historical co ...

* Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited *

Water and Power Development Authority The Pakistan Water & Power Development Authority (WAPDA; ur, ) is a government-owned public utility maintaining power and water in Pakistan, although it does not manage thermal power. WAPDA includes Tarbela and Mangla dams among its resources. ...

Group stage

Tables

Results

Pool A

=Round 1

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=Round 2

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=Round 3

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=Round 4

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=Round 5

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=Round 6

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=Round 7

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Pool B

=Round 1

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=Round 2

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=Round 3

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=Round 4

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=Round 5

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=Round 6

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=Round 7

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Super Eight stage

Tables

Results

Group 1

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Group 2

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Final

Notes

References

External links

Series home at ESPN Cricinfo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2017-18 Domestic cricket competitions in 2017–18 2017 in Pakistani cricket 2017-18 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Pakistani cricket seasons from 2000–01