Pakistan cricket team’s Asian Games training camp likely from Sept 20-21

LAHORE: Pakistan’s national cricket team is expected to hold a three-day training camp in Karachi from Sept. 20 or 21 ahead of its participation in the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, sources said.

Head coach Mike Hesson and bowling coach Ashley Noffke arrived in Lahore from the United Kingdom on Wednesday morning, with the final schedule for the camp to be decided in consultation with Hesson, according to sources.

The national team is scheduled to leave for Japan on Sept. 24, the day the men’s cricket competition begins at Korogi Athletic Park in Aichi Prefecture.

Pakistan, along with India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, has been granted direct entry to the quarter-finals on the basis of its ranking. The Pakistan side will play its knockout match against the second-placed team from Group B on Sept. 28, while the men’s final is scheduled for Oct. 3.

The Pakistan Cricket Board named Sahibzada Farhan captain of the 15-member squad, with Abdul Samad appointed vice-captain.

Farhan, 30, has represented Pakistan in 46 T20Is, scoring 1,305 runs, including two centuries and 10 half-centuries. Samad has played five T20Is for Pakistan.

Four players in the squad, Akif Javed, Ali Raza, Maaz Sadaqat and Saad Masood, are yet to make their T20I debuts.

The squad comprises Sahibzada Farhan (captain), Abdul Samad (vice-captain), Abrar Ahmed, Ahmed Daniyal, Akif Javed, Ali Raza, Arafat Minhas, Haider Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Maaz Sadaqat, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Saad Masood, Saim Ayub, Sufyan Moqim and Usman Khan (wicket-keeper).

Fourteen of the 15 players selected for the Asian Games are also part of the National Cricket Academy’s white-ball camp, which is scheduled to begin in Lahore on June 15.

The support staff includes Hesson as head coach, Noffke as bowling coach, Shane McDermott as fielding coach, Muhammad Tahir as physiotherapist, Imran Ullah as trainer and Usman Hashmi as analyst-cum-team operations coordinator.