PCB moves President's Trophy matches out of Peshawar and Abbottabad after emergency declared

The Pakistan Cricket Board has moved the remaining President's Trophy Grade-I fixtures scheduled in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to grounds in Punjab after the federal government declared an emergency and imposed governor's rule in the province

Two first-class matches due to be staged at the Imran Khan Stadium in Peshawar and the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium have been relocated, leaving the competition without a host venue in the province for the rest of the league stage.

Ghani Glass against Hyderabad Kingsmen Academy will now be played at the Rana Naveed Academy in Sheikhupura from 14 October, while Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited against Oil and Gas Development Company Limited moves to the LCCA Ground in Lahore, next door to the Gaddafi Stadium.

Fixtures in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, the competition's two other host cities, are unaffected and began as scheduled on Monday. The final round of the league stage has been pushed back by a day and will now start on 19 October.

Governor's rule forces the move

The switch followed the federal cabinet's recommendation, approved by the president, to declare an emergency and impose governor's rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province governed until now by the PTI.

Both grounds had been part of the competition's four-city plan for the season, alongside Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

Two fixtures head to Punjab

The Rana Naveed Academy in Sheikhupura takes the Peshawar fixture. The LCCA Ground, which sits beside the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, takes the Abbottabad match.

The LCCA Ground will also host Markhor IT Solutions against Pakistan Television in the final round, another fixture drawn into Lahore by the reshuffle.

Hyderabad Kingsmen Academy against State Bank of Pakistan, the other final-round fixture, is scheduled for the National Cricket Ground in Islamabad.

A setback for Peshawar and Abbottabad

The Imran Khan Stadium, renamed from the Arbab Niaz Stadium in 2025 after a renovation that ran for years, had only recently been brought back into the senior domestic rota. It returned last season after an absence of almost seven years, staging nine Quaid-e-Azam Trophy matches once the building work was finished.

The Peshawar ground has not staged an international match since 2006.

Abbottabad's ground, owned by the PCB and declared a first-class venue in 2010, has been a regular stop on the domestic circuit since.

Losing both at once concentrates the back end of the competition in Punjab and Islamabad.

What it means for the title race

Eight teams play each other once in the league stage, with the top two meeting in the final. State Bank of Pakistan lead the table on 84 points and Ghani Glass are second on 70, with two rounds left.

The most recent match at Abbottabad went to Pakistan Television, who beat Ghani Glass by 10 wickets after bowling them out for 102 and replying with 428. Ghani Glass made 337 second time round, leaving their opponents 15 for 0 to win.

At the National Ground in Islamabad, Markhor IT beat Oil and Gas Development Company Limited by 75 runs, defending totals of 223 and 190 against replies of 193 and 145.

The two relocated fixtures and the rescheduled final round will settle which sides meet in the final.

A season reshaped off the field

The President's Trophy is Pakistan's first-class competition for departmental and privately backed sides, and runs alongside the regional Quaid-e-Azam Trophy in the domestic calendar.

With the league stage now confined to Lahore, Sheikhupura, Islamabad and Rawalpindi, it will finish well away from one of the regions it had been scheduled to visit.

The venue for the final has yet to be announced.

Both relocated matches begin on 14 October, with the final round to follow five days later.

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