The KCCA honorary secretary, Prof Sirajul Islam Bukhari, told Dawn on Tuesday that Sohail has conveyed, through a national selector in Toronto (during the last match of the Sahara Cup), his desire to play against the Australians in the only first-class match before the first Test at Rawalpindi, which commences on Oct 1.
Apart from the fact that the match against Australia will mark the beginning of the first-class season here, Sohail, who is arriving here from Toronto with his triumphant team in the early hours of Thursday, wants to have an early 'look' at the composition of the Australian team so that he, alongwith coach Javed Miandad, plan out a strategy for the three-match Test series.
In fact, Sohail will lead the local side, which will be announced tomorrow (Wednesday) by the KCCA selection committee headed by Aslam Sanjrani. Mehdi Hasan and Zulfiqar Sheikh have been named manager and assistant manager of the KCCA team.
Waqar, who has been out of action for a while with various problems, will play in the match at the request of the national selectors, who want to check his fitness and form before they consider him for the Test series.
The presence of both Sohail and Waqar alongwith the local hero Shahid Khan Afridi will not just strengthen the KCCA team but will also bring in crowd to a match which, from the spectators' point of view, could have been only a futile exercise as in the past.
Meanwhile, the KCCA's Executive Council, which met on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Nusrat Azeem, has decided to charge gate money from the four-day tour opener. Tickets in the denomination of Rs 100 (for the main pavilion), Rs 50 (for Javed Miandad and Hanif Mohammad enclosures) and Rs 20 (for general stand) will be available from the National Stadium.
Council member Dalpat Sonavaria has been named as the local liaison officer with Jamil Ahmed as his deputy.
The council also approved various committees to oversee the arrangements for the match. Haji Iftikhar Ahmed will head ground committee, Ali Imam is incharge of the gate control committee while M.M. Baig is the convener of tickets sale committee.
Meanwhile, former first-class cricketer Masoodul Hasan, has been named by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as the liaison officer for touring Australian team.