There is no clarity on when the 2024-25 Quaid-e-Azam (QeA) Trophy season will begin despite Pakistan’s excellent international Test season already underway. According to a schedule provisionally released by the PCB in August, Pakistan’s premier first-class tournament was set to begin on October 20, but a day before that date, the fate of the tournament remains uncertain.
While the dates for all domestic competitions announced by the PCB in August were provisional and subject to change, a PCB official told Pak Gazette last month that the QeA should stick to its October 20 plan. Pak Gazette understands that no one, not even those in charge of internal affairs at the PCB, knows when the tournament schedule will finally be announced.
Pak Gazette has learned that the tournament is waiting to get the green light from PCB president Mohsin Naqvi.
The PCB declined to comment on what is holding up approval at this stage, although budget approval operationally comes from the president and is understood to be one of the factors in the delay. Still, the lack of information about the QeA contrasts with the fanfare with which the board marked the Champions One-Day Cup, which was held in September.
The QeA has never managed to stick to a schedule or format, but any information about its start at this point in a season is unprecedented lately. In each of the last 15 years except two, the tournament started later than October 26, and the schedule usually comes out well before October. Each of the last two seasons began in September; Last year’s tournament began on September 10 and concluded on October 26.
The situation is even more jarring in a season in which Pakistan will play more Test matches than any other this century. More than half of the seven home Test matches they will play between August 2024 and January 2025 are now over, with two Test matches in South Africa earlier in the year.
