Markhor IT Solutions Stunned Everyone to Reach Their First Final

Dr. Annelies De Vos · 2026-10-23

Two teams are heading to Karachi for a five-day showdown, and one of them has absolutely no business being there. Well, on paper at least. State Bank of Pakistan and Markhor IT Solutions will meet in the final of the first-class President's Trophy 2026-27 at the SBP ground, starting October 25. ### How They Got Here The two sides locked in their spots after the seventh and final round of the round-robin stage. Both were sitting at the top of the eight-team table going into that last round, and neither blinked. State Bank finished first. Markhor finished second. Simple as that. Here's a fun wrinkle: this final will be the first first-class match of the season played in Karachi. Every single game before it happened in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. So the crowd in Karachi is getting a proper treat for their first taste of the competition. And there's more cricket right around the corner. The Quaid-e-Azam Trophy kicks off November 1, with twenty teams from sixteen regions split into gold and silver divisions. ### Markhor's Wild Ride in Their Debut Season Markhor IT Solutions are playing first-class President's Trophy cricket for the very first time. And they're in the final. Let that sink in. They racked up 96 points across seven matches and won two of them. The start was rough, though. No wins in their first four games. Then round five happened, and they beat OGDCL by 75 runs. Something clicked. 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. They actually earned their spot in the top tier back in July, when they were declared grade-II winners thanks to a first-innings lead over Kingsmen. ### State Bank Cruised Without a Single Loss State Bank of Pakistan went through the group stage unbeaten. Nobody else could say that. They piled up 107 points, the only total above 100 in the whole competition. Two of their matches ended in wins, against Ghani in round three and OGDCL in round four. The other five were draws. Not flashy, but effective. Sometimes that's all you need. ### Promotion, Relegation, and a Big Shakeup Kingsmen punched their ticket to next year's first-class competition with an 82-run win over Eshaal Associates earlier this week. They'll join their sister team Kingsmen Academy, who finished third this season. Kingsmen take the place of OGDCL, who finished dead last 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 sealed OGDCL's fate in the final round, beating Khan Research Laboratories by four wickets in Rawalpindi and chasing down a target of 191. Mohammad Rizwan returned as captain and scored 64 in the first innings, while Abdul Samad stayed 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 hit centuries for Ghani, which helped them hold on for a draw. > "Two wins in seven matches doesn't sound like finalist material. But Markhor found a way when it mattered, and that's the story of their season." So now it comes down to this. An unbeaten State Bank side against a debutant team that refused to go away quietly. Five days in Karachi. One trophy on the line. ### Quick Recap - State Bank of Pakistan: 107 points, unbeaten, top of the table - Markhor IT Solutions: 96 points, two wins, first-class debut season - Final starts October 25 at the SBP ground in Karachi - Kingsmen promoted, OGDCL relegated - Quaid-e-Azam Trophy begins November 1 with 20 teams