Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced central contracts on Sunday, awarding the contracts to 25 International cricketers. The announcement of the contracts comes four months after the expiry of the previous contracts on June 30. These contracts have been backdated to be effective from July 1.
Retaining their category, Babar Azam and the newly-appointed white-ball captain Mohammad Rizwan are the only ones in Category A, which is also the top category of the contracts. Shaheen Shah Afridi, who was also a Category A player previously, has been demoted to the second category. Naseem Shah and Pakistan’s red-ball captain, Shan Masood, are the other B category players.
Currently, Masood, who led Pakistan to their first home Test series win since 2021, plays only in Pakistan’s red-ball side. However, it is likely that he might not last for the entire duration of the contract, which will end in June next year, as his contract is ‘subject to captaincy’. There has been uncertainty surrounding Shan’s role as a captain, especially after he led Pakistan to defeat in six Test matches straight before winning the England series 2-1.
Apart from Shaheen, Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan are the only players to be demoted. Both players have struggled to maintain their form of late. Shadab has also been dropped from the white-ball squads of Pakistan for the Australia and Zimbabwe tours.
Sajid Khan and Noman Ali, who orchestrated the series win against England, have been offered Category C contracts, while Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha, Saim Ayub, and Abrar Ahmed have earned a promotion into the third category.
Five emerging players are also on the contracted players list including fast bowlers Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Ali, and batters Muhammad Irfan Khan and Usman Khan. All five of these players have been given a spot in D Category.
Fakhar Zaman has missed out on the contract for the first time in eight years. Reportedly, his tweet in Babar Azam’s favor after the latter was released from the Test squad for the England Test series has not sat well with the PCB management. However, the PCB cited his fitness issues as the reason for his exclusion.
Besides Fakhar, the opening batter Imam ul Haq and spin all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz, who previously were in the second tier, have been left out of the contracts entirely.
Other senior players who have not been offered any contract include Imad Wasim, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Usama Mir, and Mohammad Haris among others.
Despite a plethora of changes across Pakistan cricket, the PCB has decided to stick to the three-year deal they agreed on last year. As per the deal, the structure of contracting players will remain the same until 2026, though individual players will receive the contracts after an annual review.
Category A: Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan
Category B: Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood
Category C: Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel, Shadab Khan
Category D: Aamir Jamal, Haseebullah, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Hurraira, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Usman Khan
