LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has changed the venue of the National T20 Cup from Rawalpindi to Multan, when at least four out of total ten teams were in the process of checking-in their hotel in Rawalpindi on Tuesday.

Well-informed sources told Dawn that no reason was conveyed to the teams, which forced the PCB to change the venue, for the second time.

The tournament which was to be held originally in Peshawar from Feb 5, was shifted to Rawalpindi, while keeping only the semi-finals and the final in Peshawar. The start date of the event remains unchanged.

According to the teams’ travel plan for Rawalpindi, four of them -- Karachi Whites, Faisalabad, Lahore Whites and Peshawar -- had to reach Rawalpindi on Tuesday (March 3) while the squads of Abbottabad, Karachi Blues, Multan and Sialkot were to reach Rawalpindi on Wednesday (March 4). The remaining two teams, Bahawalpur and Lahore Blues, were to reach there on March 5 and 6, respectively.

Now it is likely that the entire tournament will be played in Multan.

Some cricketers, who had reached Rawalpindi with their teams told Dawn on condition of anonymity that their teams had checked in the hotel on Tuesday, only to find out that the teams — as per the PCB instructions — would leave Rawalpindi for Multan on Wednesday.

“We reached Rawalpindi [Tuesday] after travelling hundreds of kilometres from different cities. [Therefore], it is not comfortable for us to leave for Multan, which is around 600 kilometres from Rawalpindi, today. Thanks to the PCB who allowed us one-night stay in Rawalpindi to prepare for our travel to Multan,” the cricketers told Dawn from Rawalpindi.

This is not the first time the PCB has abruptly made changes to an event.

Last year, the Board’s domestic department in an embarrassing move postponed the National Men’s U-19 Tournament when the first day of the play had started at different venues across the country.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2026