Former Test batsman Asif Mujtaba leads the KCCA XI, which includes a number of players who have represented Pakistan in recent times.
The KCCA selectors have decided to give some of their talented players a chance to prove their mettle against an international side. The local team lacks genuine openers and it is expected that either Basit Ali or young wicketkeeper Javed Qadeer will open the KCCA XI batting with Shahid Khan Afridi.
Hasan Raza, who has the distinction of being Test cricket's youngest debutant at 14 years and 220 days when he represented Pakistan against Zimbabwe almost 16 months ago, returned home from South Africa after an unsuccessful Youth World Cup campaign a couple of days back, and will be hoping to make amends for a lean spell during the tournament.
India 'A', who will play unofficial Tests against Pakistan at Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Sialkot and one-dayers at Sheikhupura, Lahore and Karachi, have named their twelve for the tour opener. The youngsters sitting out are Nikhil Haldipur and Sanjay Raul while Reetinder Singh Sodhi has still to join the squad after playing in the Youth World Cup.
There are siblings of two cricketing legends in the touring outfit, led by opening batsman Gagan Khoda. Rohan Gavaskar is the son of the great batting star of the 70s and 80s, Sunil. Abbas Ali's grandfather Mushtaq Ali formed a formidable opening partnership in the pre-World War II period with Vijay Merchant.
The importance of this trip can be gauged by the fact that this is the first by a major Indian national side to Pakistan since a Test squad, led by present coach Krishnammachari Srikkanth, visited the country in 1989. The two countries played a series of three One-day Internationals late last year.
The playing strip at the National Stadium has a look of green-top, which means the pace bowlers can be expected to dominate. The Indians are quite healthy in this department with Test speedster Debaishish Mohanty heading the line-up.
Umpires Feroz Butt and Shakeel Khan will supervise this three-day encounter.
The KCCA have also decided to make entry to the ground by tickets, which are worth Rs.100/- and Rs.20/- respectively.
Teams:
KCCA - Asif Mujtaba (captain), Shahid Khan Afridi, Hasan Raza, Basit Ali, Manzoor Akhtar, Farhan Adil, Muhammad Javed, Zafar Iqbal, Javed Qadeer, Kashif Ibrahim and Asim Zaidi. Reserves: Ahmed Zeeshan Malik, Asim Kamal, Kashif Ahmed, Majid Mujtaba, Zameer Ahmed Khan, Faisal Iqbal and Saeed bin Nasir.
India 'A' (from): Gagan Khoda (captain), Sairaj Bahatule (vicecaptain), Wasim Jaffer, Abbas Ali, Jatin Paranjape, Rohan Gavaskar, M.S.K. Prasad, Murli Kartik, A Agarkar, Noel David, Debashish Mohanty and M. Madhukar.