KARACHI, Oct 9: Teenaged Test batsman Hasan Raza and the one-day sensation Shahid Khan Afridi will make their first appearance on the domestic front this season when they turn out for Karachi Whites in the four-day Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Grade-I National Cricket Championship match against Bahawalpur at National Stadium from tomorrow (Friday).
This match was originally scheduled to be played at Asghar Ali Shah Stadium but the Pakistan Cricket Board decided to change the venue a couple of days ago.
Both Hasan and Afridi were members of the Pakistan squad which played against India in the Sahara Cup in Toronto (Canada) and the subsequent three-match one-day series in Pakistan.
The inclusion of these two highly-talented players will definitely boost the Karachi Whites team as they prepare to take on a rejuvenated Bahawalpur side which gained two points by virtue of a narrow first innings lead over the city's senior string, Karachi Blues, in the season's first match here at Asghar Ali Shah Stadium earlier in the week.
Karachi Whites will be aiming to put up an improved performance after their first encounter was a virtual rain-hit affair against the reigning champions, Lahore City, in Lahore. That encounter almost had two days completely washed out.
The track at National Stadium appears to be hard and true, which should help the batsmen to play their strokes more freely. The side winning the toss will surely aim to put a huge score on the board since the outfield is also much quicker, due to the efforts of chief groundsman Hussain Khan and his assistants.
Karachi Whites will be led by ex-Pakistan under-19 captain Ahmer Saeed.
Manager Akram Khan will name the Karachi Whites playing XI from the following:
Ahmer Saeed (captain), Maisam Hasnain, Iqbal Saleem, Hasan Raza, Shahid Afridi, Farhan Adil, Iqbal Imam, Baqar Rizvi, Muhammad Farrukh, Fahad Usman, Jahangir Baksh, Kashan Khan, Atif Irfan, Atiq-uz-Zaman, Salman Huda and Rashid Ghauri.
Former Pakistan opener Sajid Ali, who scored 71 in Bahawalpur's first innings against Karachi Blues last Friday, requires just eight more runs to reach the milestone of 13,000 first-class career runs.
Umpires Mahboob Shah and Riazuddin will supervise the match while ex-Test bowler Niaz Ahmed will be the match referee.
Meanwhile, Karachi Blues will be in action against Gujranwala at Jinnah Stadium, Gujranwala. The visitors will be without Shoaib Muhammad (nursing a finger injury) and Test wicket-keeper Rashid Latif, who will be on duty for Allied Bank in the three-day tour match against the South Africans in Peshawar from Sunday (Oct 12).
The Karachi Blues squad, which left for Gujranwala on Tuesday, comprises Asif Mujtaba (captain), Shadab Kabir, Ghulam Ali, Sohail Jaffer, Basit Ali, Mahmood Hamid, Zafar Iqbal, Ahmed Zeeshan Malik, Ali Hussain Rizvi, Ali Raza, Ali Gohar, Kashif Ahmed, Ali Jaffer and Arif Mahmood. Mehdi Hasan in the manager.
Other matches starting from Friday are: Lahore City v Multan at Biscuit Factory Ground (Sahiwal); Islamabad v Peshawar at CRA Ground (Islamabad) and Faisala-bad v Rawalpindi at Bohranwali Ground (Faisalabad).