Malaysia will be making its first-ever visit to Pakistan and it is believed that Sadiq Mohammad, who is the coach of the team, has played a leading role in arranging the trip. On the contrary, Bangladesh appeared in the National One-day Cup last season and despite failing to win a match here, went on to beat Kenya in the ICC Trophy final at Kuala Lumpur to qualify for the 1999 World Cup.
In the 1995-96 season, United Arab Emirates had taken part in the most prestigious event of the domestic circuit. UAE, who came here with an objective to prepare for the sixth World Cup, however, failed a win match in both the tournaments.
Majid Khan, the PCB boss, said Malaysia wanted to train for the Common Wealth Games which it will be hosting next year. ``They made a formal request and we accepted. ``As far as Bangladesh is concerned, they also wanted to play in the National One-day Cup and their request was also accepted.''
Unlike the previous two events when UAE and Bangladesh were included in the second round, Malaysia and Bangladesh, this time, have been drawn in the initial rounds. Malaysia has been placed in Pool B along with Lahore, Gujranwala, Multan, WAPDA and ADBP and will play its matches in Gujranwala, Gadaffi Stadium and Sheikhupura. Bangladesh has been drawn along side Karachi Whites, Faisalabad, Allied Bank and National Bank and will play its matches in Faisalabad. According to the format drawn, 21 teams - 10 associations, nine departments and two foreign teams - have been divided into four pools with pool B comprising five teams.
The groupings are:
POOL A: Bahawalpur, Karachi Blues, PIA, HBL, Customs . POOL B: Lahore, Gujranwala, Multan, Malaysia, WAPDA, ADBP.
POOL C: Karachi Whites, Faisalabad, Allied Bank, Bangladesh and National Bank.
POOL D: Peshawar, Rawalpindi, United Bank, Islamabad and KRL.
While Malaysia and Bangladesh fear first-round eliminations, both the Karachi teams face the similar situations in Pool A and Pool C. However, there seems to be an opening for an association in Pool B and D, not to belittle the strength of WAPDA and KRL (the two departments in the two pools).
While the first round match will be played at Karachi, Gujranwala, Lahore, Faisalabad, Peshawar and Rawalpindi, the final round matches will be played at the National Stadium, UBL Sports Complex, Gadaffi Stadium and Sheikhupura.
The semi-finals and the final once again have been fixed for Lahore. Interestingly, the four-nation tournament involving Sri Lanka, South Africa and the West Indies besides Pakistan is also being played at Lahore and the three crunch One-day Cup matches have again been slated for Lahore. The excuse may be floodlights but the question is when will the other Test centres will have similar facilities?