The Pakistan Cricket Board has dropped WAPDA and Sahir Associates from the 2026-27 domestic season. Both departments failed to meet new regulations the board rolled out in June. WAPDA, one of Pakistan cricket’s oldest department sides and the reigning first-class champion, now finds itself excluded from the President’s Trophy.
Sahir Associates loses its place in the same restructuring. OGDCL and Kingsmen Academy will take their spots in the President’s Trophy and President’s Cup, the first-class and List A competitions reserved for department teams.
Why PCB Tightened Its Rules
The board says the changes aim to raise the standard of domestic cricket. A PCB statement noted that fresh regulations were shared with all first-class departmental teams to run the President’s Trophy and President’s Cup in a more professional way, following a review of last season’s events.
These rules let the PCB audit financial dealings between departments and players, covering monthly salaries and match fees. Departments must now offer players year-long contracts, and the board has laid out fresh guidelines on accommodation, daily allowances, and fitness programmes for squads.
A steep hike in participation fees, now set at PKR 15 million, has caused the most friction. Talks between departments and the board dragged on for weeks over the increase. Six other departments — Khan Research Laboratories, Pakistan Television, Ghani Glass, MIT Solutions, State Bank of Pakistan, and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited — agreed to the higher fee only after the PCB promised to cover costs tied to live streaming production, ground rent, and match balls.
WAPDA and Sahir Associates Push Back
A WAPDA representative told reporters the department wanted the fee hike reconsidered before accepting it. A PCB official, however, said money wasn’t the only sticking point. WAPDA and Sahir Associates also objected to the board stepping in to oversee player contracts, salaries, and match fees directly. Sahir Associates has not issued a public response to the decision.
Khan Research Laboratories nearly followed the same path out. The department had reportedly planned to withdraw and had already told its players about the move, pointing to the fee increase as the reason. KRL reversed course this week after another round of talks with the board, choosing to stay in the competition rather than exit alongside WAPDA and Sahir Associates.
OGDCL, Kingsmen Academy Step In
The exit of the two departments creates room for OGDCL and Kingsmen Academy to move up. OGDCL had been set to play in the Grade 2 tournament after finishing bottom of the first-class President’s Trophy last season. Kingsmen Academy missed automatic promotion after losing the Grade 2 final to MIT Solutions. Under the PCB’s usual system, the last-placed team in the first-class President’s Trophy drops down to Grade 2 each year, while the Grade 2 winner earns promotion in return.
The shake-up marks one of the sharpest shifts in Pakistan’s departmental cricket structure in recent seasons. With WAPDA gone despite its champion status, the PCB has signalled that financial compliance and contract transparency now carry as much weight as on-field performance when it comes to a department’s place in the domestic system.
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