The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided against awarding any player a Category A central contract for the 2025–26 season. Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, both of whom were the only players in Pakistan’s highest central contracts category last time, have been demoted to Category B. The duo have been struggling through a rough patch which earlier saw them lose their spots in the T20I team.
While the board hasn’t revealed the reason behind not assigning Category A contracts to anyone, it is reported that the side’s dismal form over the past year has had a big say in the decision. Reportedly, the top category contracts will only be brought back for performances that merit them.
Each of the remaining three categories has 10 players, expanding the contracted players’ pool to 30 from last cycle’s 27. In total, the PCB has awarded contracts to 12 new players, while leaving out eight who previously had contracts. The excluded players notably include Aamir Jamal, Kamran Ghulam, Mir Hamza, Irfan Khan Niazi, and Usman Khan, among others.
Pakistan’s Test captain Shan Masood has been demoted two categories, from Category B to Category D this time. In addition, Fakhar Zaman, who missed out on a contract for the first time in eight years in the last cycle as part of a reprimand by the board, has been assigned to Category B.
Besides Pakistan’s three captains in different formats, as well as Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, and Fakhar Zaman, the highest contract tier this year also includes Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Saim Ayub, and Shadab Khan. Except for Hasan, all of them were promoted from Category C.
The contracts will be backdated to start from July 1, 2025, and will run for a period of 12 months during which no revision will be made. This is also the last year of the three-year contract deal the board signed with the players, which saw a significant raise in their pay as well as a fixed portion of the PCB’s earnings from the International Cricket Council (ICC). The board kept the same arrangement for this cycle, though its unsure if it plans on renewing it from next year.
A PCB release read:
“The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has awarded central contracts to 30 male cricketers for the upcoming 2025–26 international season. The contracts, effective from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026, reflect the Board’s continued commitment to recognising and supporting national talent.
This year’s roster sees 10 players each placed in Categories B, C, and D. Notably, no player has been selected for Category A in this cycle.”
List of centrally contracted players by the PCB for the 2025–26 season:
Category B: Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Rizwan, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi
Category C: Abdullah Shafique, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Sahibzada Farhan, Sajid Khan, Saud Shakeel
Category D: Ahmed Daniyal, Hussain Talat, Khurram Shahzad, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Salman Mirza, Shan Masood, Sufyan Muqim
Not retained: Aamir Jamal, Haseebullah, Kamran Ghulam, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Huraira, Muhammad Irfan Khan, and Usman Khan
