LAHORE (Dunya News) - The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) introduced and successfully executed the first of its kind School Cricket Talent Hunt Programme across the country in 2025 in which 405 school teams from 39 districts played 827 40-over matches.
The activity triggered more than 5,000 school students into action as they took part in trials, preparation camps and tournament matches under the watch of district and regional coaches provided by the PCB.
Initially a total of 2,939 schools registered their interest in the programme after the programme was announced in March. Following a thorough scrutiny process, trials were held in more than 400 schools to assemble the teams for the 40-over tournament.
Chairman PCB Mohsin Naqvi inaugurated the PCB Talent Hunt Programme for Schools on Tuesday, 23 September with an aim to “create a superb sporting culture and environment among students and to crucially provide them an opportunity to carve a professional cricket career along with their studies.”
Following successful conduct of 827 40-over matches, the top eight schools each in Faisalabad, Karachi and Lahore were again invited for 40-over white-ball tournaments in their respective cities as a total of 93 matches took place in these three cities.
The final of the Lahore, Faisalabad and Karachi events were also live-streamed and broadcast, while the winning teams bagged PKR 100,000 each. The PCB has also ensured the connectivity of the U15, U17 and U19 regional selection with top performers of school cricket to unearth new talent at the grassroots level.
Top performers from the Schools will also be invited to the Regional Cricket Academies in 2026 in order to hone their skills and development.
PCB Director Domestic Cricket Operations, Abdullah Khurram Niazi, said: “We successfully conducted the Schools tournament at the district level first and then executed the provincial rounds. After massive success in 2025 our aim is to expand this programme from 39 districts to 100 districts in the coming year.
“School Cricket can provide us a lot of raw talent for the professional game in Pakistan and that is why we have built this pyramid of progress from Schools to U15, U17 and then U19 cricket. The same players can then advance to the domestic structure and finally Pakistan Shaheens and the national team.
“We have got a great response from the kids and their parents during this activity, which is a testament to the success of this programme.”