19th PVCA National Seniors Cup being contested by 103 teams

A total of 103 outfits from 50 cities, having been divided in 31 groups, will be participating in the 19th edition of the National Seniors Cup Cricket Tournament 2017-18 being organized by the Pakistan Veterans Cricket Association (PVCA) and sponsored by Omar Associates (Pvt) Ltd while Naya Nazimabad will be the co-sponsors.

The details about the event, whose Southern Zone matches will be getting underway on February 10, were shared by Fawad Ijaz Khan, Chairman, PVCA, in a media briefing at the Karachi Gymkhana on February 6.

Nadeem Omar, Managing Director, Omar Associates, was also present on the occasion alongwith Akbar Iqbal Puri, President, Karachi Gymkhana, Abdul Haq, representing Naya Nazimabad, and the PVCA officials, Alamgir Ahmed, Amjad Islam Rishi, Shariq Hasib Khan and Mujahid Hamid.

Fawad Ijaz Khan noted that the level of fitness of the cricketers, having crossed the age of 40, has improved considerably over the years primarily due to the introduction of the National Seniors Cup.

Nadeem Omar reckoned that the senior cricketers were also making a significant contribution in the development of the sport, complimenting the PVCA to have withstood the challenges and delivered against the heaviest of odds.

Akbar Puri informed that besides installing floodlights at the Karachi Gymkhana Cricket Ground, the club was looking forward to having more proactive role in cricket in near future.

It was disclosed that 34 city teams from Punjab, 8 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 5 from Sindh, 2 from Islamabad one from Baluchistan will be taking part in the tournament whose national final, to be contested between the Champions of Northern and Southern Zones, will be taking place in Karachi on 22nd April. The total prize money in the event will be Rs 694,000.

Karachi Gold Bridge will be taking on Karachi Lucky Knitts in the inaugural match of the Southern Zone  at Naya Nazimabad Cricket Ground on February 10.

In the Southern Zone competition, Omar Associates, Fact Date Engineering, A A Pakwan, CAA and Quetta are placed in the Group A while the Group B comprises of RLCA, Gold Bridge, Airport Gymkhana, Haseen Habib and Lucky Knitts with Hyderabad, Badin, Jamshoro and Mirpurkhas being the drawn in the interior Sindh group.

The group matches of the Southern Zone, taking place at Karachi and Hyderabad, will be of 20 overs each innings whereas the Zonal finals as well as the National Final will be of 30 overs per innings. The group matches will be organized on single league basis.

The matches of the Northern Zone, having got underway last November, are being played at Rawalpindi, Bahawalpur, Multan, Okara, Lahore, Kasur, Sheikhupura, Muridke, Faisalabad, Gujranwala and Sialkot while the matches of the Southern Zone will be played at Karachi and Hyderabad.

Amjad Islam Rishi will be the Tournament Coordinator while the Southern Zone Committee will be headed by Alamgir Ahmed.

The National Seniors Cup, contested annually between the selected teams of the various cities, has been organized by the PVCA every season since they its launch in 1998.

The PVCA has attained not only national but international recognition. It has played three series of limited overs matches against Indian Veterans featuring mega stars on both sides. It also organized a series of matches against touring Canadian Veterans Cricket team in February 2017 and they are again touring Pakistan later this month to play a series of matches in Karachi and Lahore.

Besides organizing Seniors/Veterans/Super Veterans Cricket, the PVCA is also promoting School Cricket as well having already organized eight successful editions of Inter-School Cricket Tournament in Karachi.

PVCA board includes three Test cricketers

The Pakistan Veterans Cricket Association (PVCA) has elected new board members and officials during its annual general body meeting held in Karachi and Lahore by video conferencing on November 14.

According to a notification issued by the PVCA, there were a total 16 directors, including three Test cricketers, Intikhab Alam, Ejaz Faquih and Kabir Khan, having been nominated by the four provinces and Islamabad.

Fawad Ijaz Khan, Nadeem Omar, Alamgir Ahmed, Amjad Islam Rishi, Salman Butt and Ejaz Faquih have been elected as the PVCA Directors from Sindh while Ashiq Hussain Qureshi, Intikhab Alam,Mujahid Hamid, Asad Ali Khan, Zahid Hussain and Rizwan Nisar are the elected Directors from the province of Punjab. Kabir Khan and Tariq Khan Afridi (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Shariq Hasib Khan (Balochistan) and Najeeb Sajid (Islamabad) are the other PVCA Directors elected from the respective territories.

Meanwhile Fawad Ijaz Khan and Ashiq Hussain Qureshi were unanimously re-elected as the new Chairman and Chief Executive of PVCA respectively for the three year term of 2016-19. Nadeem Sarwar was nominated as the Honorary Secretary and Rizwan Nisar was appointed as the Honorary Treasurer.

The PVCA, which came into being in 1998, has emerged as one of the most proactive sports bodies, having organized numerous events. They have attributed the success to their consistent policies and the democratic set-up which they have had since its inception.

Besides organizing cricket for the veterans, which remains its core objective, the PVCA has also played its role in promoting the game at the grassroots level, having organized eight editions of high-profile Inter-School cricket tournaments in Karachi, the last one of which concluded only a couple of days ago.

Indo-Pak veteran cricket series called off

The Pakistan Veterans Cricket Association (PVCA) has cancelled its upcoming tour to India amid escalating tensions between the South Asian neighbours.


Fawad Ijaz Khan, Chairman, PVCA, has announced that, in view of the prevailing tense conditions at the Indo-Pak border, the series which was due to be held in India during the months of December 2016 and January 2017 stood cancelled.

“The PVCA had planned to send its Over-50 veterans squad to play four in the Indian state of Kerala from December 26 to January 3. The proposed tour included a couple of 50-overs-a-side contests besides as many Twenty20 games. We were going there upon the invitation from the Board of Veterans in India (BVI),” he disclosed.

“All the four matches were scheduled to be staged in Kerala which is the busiest centre of veteran cricket activities in India as they also organize the veteran league tournaments regularly,” he added.

The PVCA Chairman disclosed that the decision of cancelling the tour of India has been conveyed to the BVI.

The decision of the PVCA has come just a day after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) to not place India and Pakistan in the same group during upcoming international events. The two teams are currently scheduled to play each other in the ICC Champions Trophy to be held next year in June in England.

Previously the BCCI had ruled out the possibility of an Indo-Pak bilateral series although as of late no proposal from either side was made for a bilateral series. There hasn’t been a complete bilateral series between the Asian cricketing giants since 2007-08. The BCCI statement seemed to have cemented the notion that they were unwilling to play a series with Pakistan in the foreseeable future.