PCB Talent Hunt Programme: Coaching clinic for 30 schoolkids held

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) held a coaching clinic for 30 school children with national men’s cricketers at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore as part of the widely acclaimed PCB Talent Hunt Programme for Schools. The programme is set to take place for the second consecutive season as per the vision of Chairman PCB Mohsin Naqvi to revive and strengthen school cricket across the country and eventually making it a nursery of talent supply to the Pakistan Cricket ecosystem. The coaching clinic was attended by Shaheen Shah Afridi, Fakhar Zaman, Abrar Ahmed and Shahnawaz Dahani, who all shared the wealth of their experience with the school kids at the NCA nets in a two-hour session. Fakhar observed the batters in the nets and shared valuable tips with the teenagers on the mechanics of batting, including balance on the crease, approach towards seamers and spinners, how to pace a 50-over innings and what areas they can work upon at such a ripe age. Shaheen and Dahani were surrounded by the young pace bowlers, who not only asked various questions regarding the skill of fast bowling but also stood enthralled in the presence of international cricketers talking cricket with them, whom they had only seen on the Television before. Abrar got in touch with the tweakers at the nets and shared bits on how to bowl on various surfaces, how to employ variations and vary pace and alluded to how much time and effort it takes to mature as a spinner going from age-group cricket to professional circuit. The second edition of the PCB Talent Hunt Programme for Schools is expected to kick off from third week of September and will run till December with 1400 Schools taking part in the tournament across 100 districts. This year the programme has expanded from 39 districts to 100 and from 450 schools to 1400 with the academic institutions across Pakistan willing to join hands with the PCB in making cricket a permanent part of co-curricular activities. In 2026, the wheel for the programme was set in motion in July with School Cricket trials conducted by the PCB’s regional coaches and were followed by training camps for all school teams, which are set to run till 15th September. Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

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