By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Players Development Program (PDP), spearheaded by Pakistan Super League’s (PSL) top cricket franchise Lahore Qalandars to give aspiring cricketers their big break, is back, organisers announced on Thursday.
“Lahore Qalandars, the Champions of PSL7 will hold open trials for aspiring Qalandars on May 17 under the supervision of local and international coaches,” the cricket franchise said in a statement.
Yorkshire’s managing director of cricket and former England Cricketer Darren Gough along with assistant coach of Yorkshire county cricket club Kabir Ali would also be present during the single-day trials at Qalandars’ exclusive and state-of-the-art High Performance Centre from 9am to 6pm.
Lahore Qalandars said a number of players would be picked for further development of their game, giving them an opportunity to become the next Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, or Fakhar Zaman.
The selected players will also get a scholarship for a year to train in Qalandars’ High Performance Centre, the statement said.
The Qalandars’ PDP is a globally acclaimed cricket development program which has produced several cricketers who are now serving various teams – domestically and internationally.
The program has provided millions of ambitious cricketers in the country a hope to reach their dreams.
Atif Rana, the CEO and owner of Lahore Qalandars, said that the franchise was excited to resume its program which had, in the past, bestowed Pakistan with a star performer like Haris Rauf.
“We were unable to hold this event for the last two years because of Covid-19 related restrictions but now as things have improved we believe that it is the high time for us to resume the much celebrated program and find more talented players to serve the country,” Rana added.
Aqib Javed, Qalandar’s director of cricket, said he was hopeful to find more exciting performers from these trials.
“The PDP is not just a talent hunt project, it’s a complete development program which not only picks the talents but also transforms them into performers,” Javed said
He said Haris Rauf was a living example of it, who shot to fame and glory after impressing coaches in one of the PDP trials.
Copyright © 2021 Independent Pakistan | All rights reserved
