The 2023–24 National T20 Cup was a Twenty20 domestic cricket competition played in Pakistan. It was the 20th season of the National T20 Cup, with the tournament starting from 24 November 2023 and the final being played on 10 December 2023.[1]Sindh were the defending champions, winning the 2022-23 edition.[2][3][4][5]
All matches played at National Bank Stadium were broadcast on PTV Sports and ARY ZAP in Pakistan, and live-streamed on YouTube in overseas territories. Double-header matches at National Bank Stadium began at 15:00 PKT and 20:00 PKT, with toss conducted at 14:30 PKT and 19:30 PKT respectively.
Free Entry
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced free entry for spectators for all matches being played at National Bank Stadium. The Hanif Mohammad, Javed Miandad and Fazal Mahmood enclosures were accessible for spectators.
The 63-match tournament was structured to open with group stage games, which were to be followed by Super Eight matches. A total of 32 group stage matches were played from 24 to 28 November. 18 participating teams were put in four groups.
Teams Meetup
The first set of fixtures saw Lahore Whites face Larkana and Karachi Blues face Peshawar at NBP Sports Complex in Group A. In Group B, Karachi Whites played against Islamabad and Hyderabad played against DM Jamali at UBL Sports Complex. Rawalpindi took on Abbottabad and Faisalabad faced Bahawalpur at National Bank Stadium for Group C and lastly, for group D, HPC Oval Ground hosted the Multan-Sialkot clash and FATA-AJK game.
Super 8 Stage
The top two teams from each group progressed to the Super Eight stage, which was played in a round-robin format from 1 to 8 December.
Final
Following the Super Eight stage, the top four teams qualified for the semi-finals. Both semi-finals were played on 9 December at National Bank Stadium, at 15:00 PKT and 20:00 PKT respectively. The final was played at the same venue on 10 December. The toss took place at 19:30 PKT and the first ball was bowled at 20:00 PKT.
Karachi Whites won the 2023–24 National T20 Cup by defeating Abbottabad by nine runs in the final. The match was held at National Bank Stadium, Karachi.[6]
This was the first edition of the tournament played since the PCB 2014 Constitution was reinstated. The previous edition of National T20, which featured six sides, was won by Sindh who clinched their maiden title after defeating defending champions Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by eight wickets. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa lost out on securing a hat-trick of titles after winning both the 2020-21 and 2021-22 editions.
Format
The 18 qualifying teams were divided into four groups of five, with the top two teams in each group advancing to the Super 8 round. In this stage, the qualifying teams were split into one group of 8. The top four teams in the Super 8 qualified for the knockout stage, which consisted of two semi-finals and a final.[7]
The group stage will consist of four groups of five teams, played as a single round-robin format. The top two teams in each group will progress to the Super 8 stage.
After the group stage, the top two teams in each group will progress to the Super 8 stage which will be played as a single round-robin with the top four teams advancing to the knockout stage.[8][9][10]
