LAHORE – In a historic first, the Pakistan Cricket Board has introduced a three-tiered Departmental Cricket structure in the domestic cricket season 2025-26, which is set to begin in August and will conclude in May 2026.
Over 40 departments from the length and breadth of the country have been divided into three tiers – Grade I, II and III, with one First-class, one List-A, one three-day and one two-day matches competition slated to take place across the season.
Earlier, there were only two tiers, but to make the departmental cricket more competitive and relegation-promotion oriented, Grade-III will be introduced in this season, where the teams will compete in a two-day match competition in March and April 2026.
Teams for the Grade-III tournament have been determined based on points table standings in the 2024-25 President’s Trophy Grade-II tournament. The top two teams in Grade-III will qualify for the next season’s Grade-II, while the bottom two teams of the Grade-II will be relegated to the third tier.
A total of 12 teams have qualified for the President’s Trophy Grade-II based on their points in the previous iteration of the tournament, while they will be joined by the two relegated teams from the Grade-I competition to form the 14-team tournament.
The G-II teams include Ahmed Glass, Ghani Institute, JDW Sugar Mills, Kingsmen, MIT Solutions, PAF, PHA Rawalpindi, Port Qasim, Railways, Sardar Group, Vital Tea, Wing 999 Sports, HEC (relegated) and Eshaal Associates (relegated).
The 14-team President’s Trophy Grade-II, comprising three-day matches, is slated to take place from March to May 2026, where the winner will have the opportunity to go one step further and qualify for the first-class and List-A departmental tournament for the next season. In the next season, the PCB intends to add a 50-over competition for Grade-II teams as well.
The first departmental tournament in the upcoming domestic season is the 50-over President’s Cup which is set to take place right after the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy in November and December. The tournament will consist of 31 List-A matches.
Right after the one-day tournament, the same eight departments will compete in the 29-match first-class competition – the President’s Trophy, which will conclude in January 2026. The bottom two teams will be relegated, paving the way for the winners of the Grade-II tournament, hence creating a highly competitive top-to-bottom departmental cricket structure.
