The Quaid-e-Azam Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket competition in Pakistan. With few exceptions, it has been staged annually since it was first played during the 1953–54 season. Domestic cricket in Pakistan has undergone many reorganisations, with the number of teams and matches in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy changing regularly. It has been variously contested by associations[a] or departments,[b] or a combination of the two.[1] From 2019–20 to 2022–23 it was contested by six regional teams. For the 2023–24 season it was expanded to eight regional teams.[2]
Named after Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, who was known as "Quaid-e-Azam" (Great Leader), the trophy was introduced in the 1953–54 season to help the selectors pick the squad for Pakistan's Test tour of England in 1954.[3] Five regional and two departmental teams competed in the first competition: Bahawalpur, Punjab, Karachi, North-West Frontier Province, Sindh, Combined Services and Pakistan Railways.
The Quaid-e-Azam Trophy has been contested by a variety of teams representing regional cricket associations and departments. The departmental teams were run by companies, institutions and government departments, and offered employment for their players. In most seasons up to 2019 a mixture of the two competed together, but on many occasions the competition has been contested exclusively by regional or departmental teams. Due to their strength in depth, several regional associations have entered multiple teams, starting in 1956–57 when Karachi, Punjab and East Pakistan each had two teams.[4][5] The competition's format has seldom remained unchanged from one season to the next. It was a knockout tournament for the first two seasons, and again in 1959–60, from 1963–64 to 1968–69, and from 1970–71 to 1978–79. At other times it has been contested in one or more round robin groups with another group stage, knockout or single final match between the top sides in each group, and as a two division league system with a knockout and/or final and promotion and relegation. Even when the system remained constant, the composition of teams from the regions and departments often changed.[4][5] Karachi teams have won the trophy 20 times, the most by any team.
Ahead of the 2019–20 season the Pakistan Cricket Board announced a new structure which removed the traditional regions and departments, with six newly formed regional teams contesting the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.[4] In January 2023, the Pakistan Cricket Board, adverting to "the wrong policies of the past four seasons", announced that the PCB constitution had been changed. Pakistan domestic cricket would revert to what the PCB called its "tried, tested and winning cricket model and structure".[6] In August 2023 it was announced that eight regional teams would compete in the 2023–24 competition: Faisalabad, Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Karachi Whites, Lahore Blues, Lahore Whites, Multan, Peshawar and Rawalpindi.[2]
Details of each team are set out below.
Points are awarded at the conclusion of each match during the season.
Match Points:
Bonus Points:
Batting Points for First Innings (100 overs)
Bowling Points for First Innings (100 overs)
A: Over-Based Points System
B: All-Out Bonus Points
Karachi Blues have had the most successes, winning the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy nine times. Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) are next with seven wins, followed by Karachi, Karachi Whites, and National Bank with five each. United Bank and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) have four wins each; Habib Bank and Lahore have three; Bahawalpur, Peshawar, Railways, and Sialkot have two outright wins; while Central Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have two including one shared title after they tied the 2020–21 final.
Some team and individual records in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy are listed in the table below:
