LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is likely to hold a four-team one-day tournament from August 11 to 18 in Multan as part of preparations for next year’s ICC Men’s World Cup, according to reports. Jio is super On Tuesday.

According to sources, the tournament is aimed at building a strong pool of one-day players ahead of the global event and will feature the country’s leading white-ball cricketers.

The proposed schedule will allow Pakistani players to participate in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) scheduled to run from August 7 to September 20.

If the matches conclude on August 18 as scheduled, the PCB is expected to issue no-holds-barred certificates (NOCs) to the remaining CPL-eligible players.

The Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2026 season will run from August 7 to September 20 with a total of 39 matches.

Many Pakistani cricketers are expected to feature in the CPL, including Maz Sadaq, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Subian Mukeem, Saad Masood, Usman Khan and Salman Irshad.

Sources added that participation in the four-team tournament will be mandatory for the country’s white-ball players as the PCB assesses its talent pool and identifies potential candidates for Pakistan’s ODI squad ahead of next year’s World Cup.

Recently, during an exclusive interview on PCB’s ‘Straight Drive’ podcast with Salman Butt, Director of High Performance Aqib Javed insisted on immediate start of preparations for the 2027 World Cup, a competitive environment designed to assess Pakistan’s white-ball prowess.

“The 2027 World Cup is about 18 months away, so now is the right time to start our preparations,” Javed said.

He explained that the matches were jointly planned by the national selectors and coaching staff to produce four balanced teams comprising Pakistan’s leading white-ball players.

“The selectors and coaches sat together and designed this four-team tournament. Four balanced teams will be selected and all white-ball players will participate,” he said.

According to Javed, selectors and coaches decide each team’s playing XI based on the specific roles assigned to individual players, allowing them to evaluate combinations more effectively.

“The playing XIs will be selected according to each player’s role. This match will help determine which players should be the focus of the team’s plans going forward,” he added.

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