Karachi to host President's Trophy 2026-27 final between State Bank of Pakistan and Markhor IT Solutions

The SBP ground in Karachi will stage the President's Trophy 2026-27 first-class final, with State Bank of Pakistan taking on Markhor IT Solutions across five days from October 25. Every earlier match in the competition was held in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, making this the first first-class fixture of the season in the city.

Both sides secured their places in the decider once the seventh and final round of the round-robin group stage concluded. They had already occupied the top two positions on the eight-team table heading into that last round, leaving little doubt about who would contest the final.

SBP led the standings with 107 points, the only team to surpass the hundred-point mark. Their two victories came in the third and fourth rounds, against Ghani and Oil and Gas Development Corporation Limited respectively, while the remaining five matches ended in draws. They went through the entire group stage without a defeat.

Markhor IT Solutions, appearing in the first-class President's Trophy for the first time, accumulated 96 points from two wins across seven matches. The opening half of their campaign yielded no victories in four attempts, but a 75-run defeat of OGDCL in the fifth round changed the trajectory of their season. A draw against SBP followed in round six, and they closed the group stage by beating Pakistan TV by six wickets to confirm their spot in the final. MITS had secured promotion to the top tier in July, when they were awarded the grade-II title on the basis of a first-innings lead over Kingsmen.

What happened in the rest of the final round?

Elsewhere in the seventh round, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited beat Khan Research Laboratories by four wickets in Rawalpindi, a result that dropped OGDCL to the foot of the table. SNGPL had entered the round facing the prospect of relegation, and the availability of captain Mohammad Rizwan proved significant. Rizwan had previously been barred from domestic cricket by the PCB due to an ongoing cybercrimes investigation. He contributed 64 in the first innings as SNGPL replied to KRL's 151 with 195. Set 191 to win, SNGPL got there on the strength of an unbeaten 69 from Abdul Samad.

Imam-ul-Haq, also subject to a cybercrimes inquiry, made his return to domestic cricket in the same round. Captaining OGDCL, he struck an unbeaten 200, yet the match against Ghani ended in a draw after Hussain Talat and Ali Razzaq, son of former Pakistan allrounder Abdul Razzaq, both scored centuries.

What does the relegation picture look like ahead of next season?

OGDCL finished at the bottom of the first-class President's Trophy table for the second successive season and will be relegated. Their presence in the top tier this year was itself a consequence of the PCB removing WAPDA and Saahir Associates for non-compliance with regulations introduced before the 2026-27 season, having been relegated to the grade-II gold competition the year prior.

Kingsmen earned promotion by defeating Eshaal Associates by 82 runs in the grade-II competition and will join the first-class President's Trophy next season alongside their sister team Kingsmen Academy, who finished third in the current edition. The President's Trophy final precedes the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, a first-class competition involving 20 teams from 16 regions across gold and silver divisions, which is set to get under way on November 1.