The four-day Hanif Muhammad Trophy cricket tournament under the PCB is starting from Friday. The top two teams of the non-first-class tournament will make it to the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.

Two teams from Karachi are participating in the event. The matches in Pool A of the event consisting of 12 regional teams will be played in three venues – Bahawalpur, Multan and Rahim Yar Khan, while all the matches in Pool B will be held in Karachi.

5 matches will be played in each pool on a round-robin league basis. The top two teams of the tournament will qualify for the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.

In the first round of Pool A, Faisalabad Region will face Lahore Blues at Multan Stadium, Hyderabad will face Karachi Whites at Abbasia Sports Complex, Rahim Yar Khan and Quetta will face Azad Jammu and Kashmir at Dring Stadium, Bahawalpur from August 29 to September 1.

In Pool B, Rawalpindi will face FATA at the National Bank Stadium, Karachi Blues at the State Bank Sports Complex in Multan and Dera Murad Jamali at the UBL Sports Complex in Larkana.

The fifth and final round will be played from September 22 to 25. A total of 30 matches will be played in 5 rounds over 28 days. Each round will consist of 6 matches and each team will play 5 matches.

The top team from each pool will qualify for the Premier First-Class tournament, the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.

Meanwhile, the teams participating in the Pool B matches in Karachi held practical training on Thursday. However, the players faced some difficulties as the grounds were not completely dry due to the rains in the past few days.