Markhor IT Solutions' Debut Run Just Landed Them a Final Spot

Dr. Annelies De Vos · 2026-10-23

The President's Trophy 2026-27 final is set. State Bank of Pakistan will face Markhor IT Solutions at the SBP ground in Karachi, with the five-day match scheduled to begin on October 25. It's a matchup almost nobody predicted back in the summer. ### How They Got Here Both sides locked in their spots after the seventh and final round of the round-robin stage. They went into that round sitting first and second in the eight-team table, and neither one blinked. State Bank finished on top. Markhor held second. Here's the part worth pausing on: this will be the first first-class fixture of the season played in Karachi. Every earlier match in the competition happened in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. So the final isn't just a title decider. It's a homecoming of sorts. And there's more domestic cricket right around the corner. The first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy starts November 1, with twenty teams from 16 regions split into gold and silver divisions. ### A Debut Season Nobody Saw Coming Markhor IT Solutions are playing in the first-class President's Trophy for the very first time. Let that sink in for a second. They finished with 96 points from seven matches and won two of them. Through their first four games, they hadn't won a single one. Then the fifth round changed everything. They beat Oil and Gas Development Corporation Limited by 75 runs, and suddenly the season had a different shape. After that came a draw with State Bank in round six, followed by a six-wicket win over Pakistan TV to close out the group stage. Markhor had actually earned their place in the top tier back in July, when they were declared grade-II winners on the strength of a first-innings lead over Kingsmen. So yes, a debut team just walked into the final. ### State Bank's Unbeaten Run State Bank of Pakistan did something no other team managed: they went through the entire group stage without a loss. They racked up 107 points, the only total above 100 in the competition. Two matches ended in wins, against Ghani in round three and OGDCL in round four. The other five were draws. Not flashy, maybe, but relentless. ### Promotion, Relegation, and a Late Surge Kingsmen punched their ticket to next year's first-class President's Trophy with an 82-run win over Eshaal Associates earlier this week. They'll join their sister team Kingsmen Academy, who finished third this season. They take the place of OGDCL, who finished bottom for the second year running. OGDCL had been relegated to the grade-II gold competition last year and only returned after the Pakistan Cricket Board removed WAPDA and Saahir Associates for failing to meet regulations introduced before the 2026-27 season. Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited did the pushing in the final round, beating Khan Research Laboratories by four wickets in Rawalpindi after chasing down a target of 191. Mohammad Rizwan returned as captain and scored 64 in the first innings, while Abdul Samad finished unbeaten on 69 in the chase. Imam-ul-Haq also came back to domestic cricket in round seven, scoring an unbeaten 200 as OGDCL's captain. Hussain Talat and Ali Razzaq made centuries for Ghani, which helped them hold on for a draw. > "A debut team in the final, an unbeaten side at the top, and a relegation battle that came down to the last round. That's about as good as domestic cricket gets." ### What to Watch For When October 25 arrives, the storylines write themselves: - Can Markhor cap a fairy-tale debut with a title? - Does State Bank's unbeaten form carry over into a five-day format? - How much does playing in Karachi for the first time this season matter? Five days of cricket will answer all three. And honestly, that's the kind of final worth clearing your calendar for.