The 69th edition of Pakistan’s premier first-class cricket competition, “Quaid-e-Azam Trophy”, will start on Tuesday, November 3, with the opening game set to be played in Islamabad, followed by Abbottabad and Rawalpindi.
There will be a total of 20 teams competing in the 2026-27 edition, with eight in the Gold tier and 12 in the Silver tier.
Defending champions Karachi Blues will be among the teams to take part in the Gold competition, which will be held until December 12. The final, between the top two, will be held December 15-19.
Karachi Blues, Faisalabad, FATA, Lahore Whites, Islamabad, Peshawar, Multan and Sialkot Blues will be competing for the Gold tier.
Babar Azam will also get a chance to play for Lahore Whites in the first round, where they will take on FATA, captained by Shaheen Shah Afridi, at the Diamond Cricket Ground in Islamabad.
The Silver tier will have two sets of six teams. Group A teams are Lahore Blues, Rawalpindi, Larkana, Quetta, Bahawalpur and Peshawar Whites, while Group B teams are Karachi Whites, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Hyderabad, Dera Murad Jamali, Abbottabad and Sialkot Whites.
Silver tier matches will start Nov. 3 and end Nov. 30, and then the matches between the two group winners will start Dec. 3 and end Dec. 7. The competition will also be a qualifying route to the Gold level for the following season.
This tournament will include 29 first-class games in the Gold tier and 31 in the ‘Silver’ tier. Four of the four Gold tier matches in each round will be live-streamed on Tapmad and Tamasha, and four of the six Silver tier matches will be live-streamed on Tapmad and Tamasha.
