For a young cricketer, the most famous door in Pakistan’s youth sports system does not belong to a board or an academy. It belongs to a cricket team: under the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme and the Higher Education Commission, Lahore Qalandars — the Pakistan Super League champions — have run open cricket trials for boys and girls across whole provinces, turning school and street players into provincial league squads. This guide explains how those trials work, what the completed legs actually produced, and — honestly — why you cannot register for a leg as of 28 Oct 2026.
What the trials are
The Qalandars trials are the cricket arm of the Talent Hunt Youth Sports League. Unlike the league’s general trials, which cover twelve sports, these trials are cricket-specific: open, merit-based trials run by Lahore Qalandars’ coaches and selectors, under PMYP and HEC, with boys’ and girls’ trials held side by side. Selected players form regional and provincial teams that feed a provincial league, with top performers reported to progress to a national league with advanced training — the exact national-league selection numbers could not be confirmed from HEC/PMYP sources and are not stated here.
That structure is what makes the trials different from a one-day talent show. A selection here leads somewhere — into a team, a league, and a coaching pathway — rather than ending with a certificate.
The best-documented completed legs: Sindh, then Punjab
The talent hunt ran in other provinces too — including an earlier Quetta/Balochistan leg cited by the PMYP chairman — but this guide details only the Sindh and Punjab legs, which are the best documented on HEC channels.
The Sindh leg is the best documented. According to HEC, the cricket talent hunt trials across Sindh concluded with participation of over 48,000 aspiring players, conducted at five locations: Karachi, Hyderabad, Shaheed Benazirabad, Larkana, and Sukkur. The campaign kicked off at NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, with an opening ceremony attended by the Governor of Sindh, the provincial sports minister, the PMYP chairman, and HEC’s director of sports.
City-level reporting fills in the picture. In Hyderabad, trials at the Police Headquarters Ground, Cantt, drew over 7,000 young players over two days, with 16 boys and 15 girls selected after assessment by coaches including Marina Iqbal and Riaz Afridi. In Shaheed Benazirabad, a 17-member boys’ team and a 15-member girls’ team were finalised. Five regional teams were formed from Sindh. The PMYP chairman also pointed to the earlier Quetta leg’s overwhelming response as the reason for confidence going into Sindh.
After Sindh, the trials moved to Punjab. HEC records that Punjab trials started on 25 July 2025 from Bahawalpur, continuing across Multan, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Jhelum. South Punjab legs at Islamia University Bahawalpur and Multan are reported to have drawn 15,000 or more cricketers over four days, with 64 players — 16 boys and 16 girls per city — selected for further development. Those South Punjab figures are 2025-vintage reporting, and they are presented here as such, not as current registration numbers.
Is a new leg open now?
Here is the honest position as of 28 Oct 2026: no current or upcoming Qalandars trials leg, with a city and a date, could be confirmed on HEC, PMYP, or Qalandars channels at writing time. The legs described above are completed legs, and this post is therefore a how-it-works guide and a watch post — not a “trials open now” announcement. If a social media post or video claims a fresh leg with a registration link, check it against HEC or PMYP announcements first, and never pay anyone claiming to register you.
Use the gap the way selected players did before their trials: play competitive cricket regularly, keep your identity documents in order, and follow only HEC and PMYP channels for the next announcement. When a genuine leg opens, it will be announced through those channels with venues and dates — not through a forwarded message asking for a fee.
For the wider trials system behind this cricket programme, read our Talent Hunt Youth Sports League trials guide, and for Punjab’s own games, our Punjab Youth Games 2026 guide.
Frequently asked questions
Who runs the Qalandars trials?
The trials are run under the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme and executed by the Higher Education Commission, in collaboration with Lahore Qalandars, as part of the Talent Hunt Youth Sports League.
Which cities held trials?
In Sindh: Karachi, Hyderabad, Shaheed Benazirabad, Larkana, and Sukkur. In Punjab, trials started from Bahawalpur and continued across Multan, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Jhelum.
Can I register for a Qalandars trial today?
No current leg with a city and date could be confirmed at writing time. Treat this as a how-it-works and watch guide, and wait for a fresh HEC or PMYP announcement.
What happens after selection?
Selected players form regional and provincial teams for the provincial league, with top performers reported to progress to a national league with advanced training — the exact national-league selection numbers could not be confirmed from HEC/PMYP sources and are not stated here.
Closing thought: this is an independent sports guide, not an HEC or PMYP announcement — the next trials leg will be announced by them, not here.