Karachi Urban, Mumbai to contest Nissar Trophy

The Mohammad Nissar trophy match, a four-day first-class contest between the domestic champions of Pakistan and India, will be played at the National Stadium in Karachi from September 8 to 11.

The final will be contested this year by Karachi Urban, winners of the 2006-07 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy and Mumbai, the current Ranji Trophy champions. In a sense, it is as fitting a cross-border match-up as there can be; both teams are, historically, the most successful in their respective competitions.

The inaugural Nissar Trophy match was played in Dharmasala in September last year, Uttar Pradesh comfortably beating Sialkot by 316 runs.

With Amol Muzumdar, Mumbai's captain last year, making himself unavailable for selection, Wasim Jaffer, the Indian Test opener, has been picked to lead the side. Muzumdar, currently playing in the Durham league, has been replaced by left-arm spinner Nilesh Kulkarni while Omkar Gurav, yet to play first-class cricket, will keep wicket in place of Vinayak Samant

Hasan Raza has been named to lead the Karachi Urban team in the match against Mumbai, the Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA) announced.

The following cricketers, who played for Karachi Urban during the last season, have been asked to confirm their participation in the match.

Hasan Raza (captain), Faisal Iqbal, Asim Kamal, Agha Sabir, Khurram Manzoor, Asif Zakir, Saeed Bin Nasir, Afsar Nawaz, Mohtashim Ali, Imran Javed, Amin-ur-Rehman (wk), Malik Aftab, Tanvir Ahmed, Tahir Khan, Azam Hussain and Nauman Alvi.

Mumbai Wasim Jaffer (capt), Sahil Kukreja, Vinayak Mane, Prashant Naik, Ajinkya Rahane, Vinit Indulkar, Hiken Shah, Abhishek Nayar, Omkar Gurav (wk), Nilesh Kulkarni, Avishkar Salvi, Rajesh Verma, Iqbal Abdulla, Vikrant Yelligatti.