At the culmination of the 2012-13 season of the Quaid-e-Azam trophy, Pakistan's premier domestic competition, SM Mustafa, writing in the Dawn, points out flaws in the tournament, which, he says, don't totally fulfill its objective of creating a base of players ready for the grind of international cricket.
It has to be understood that the objective of domestic first-class competitions is not to provide opportunities to maximum number of players; rather, it has to serve as a forum which can prepare competent, battle-hardened cricketers for the national team.Equally, it also has to be a place where an out-of-form or out-of-favour international player can return in order to regain his confidence and sort out his shortcomings. For this to happen, the domestic cricket has got to be extremely competitive and this can only happen if only a limited number of high-quality players are allowed to participate at this level.