President’s Trophy Grade-I to begin from 8 January 

The President’s Trophy Grade-I is set to begin from Wednesday, 8 January in Karachi with nine teams competing on a single-league basis for the departmental first-class title. A total of nine rounds will be played with each round comprising of four matches, all to be staged in Karachi. 

The league stage of the tournament will be played on six venues, HPC Oval Ground, KCCA Stadium, National Bank Stadium, NBP Sports Complex, SBP Sports Complex, and UBL Sports Complex. The venue for the five-day final from 8-12 April will be announced closer to the match.

The nine teams include Eshaal Associates, Ghani Glass, Higher Education Commission (HEC), Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL), Pakistan Television (PTV), State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL), and Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA). 

SNGPL are the defending champions of the tournament they will begin their title defence against PTV in the opening round at the HPC Oval Ground, Karachi. WAPDA were the runners-up in last edition of the tournament and they are set to play their first game against KRL at the NBP Sports Complex starting 8 January.

Eshaal Associates and OGDCL, finalists of the President’s Trophy Grade-II 2023-24, qualified for the departmental first-class tournament in June 2024. In the 37-match tournament, the top two teams at the end of the league stage will qualify for the final while the bottom two teams will be relegated to the President’s Trophy Grade-II 2024-25 tournament.