Pakistan Cricket Board has reduced the number of central contracts from 33 players to 19 players, which are divided into three categories, A, B and C.
According to the Managing Director PCB, Waseem Khan, the board has raised players’ remunerations significantly. “We have set big goals for the next season,” said the MD. “We have also raised the bar for central contracts. We are confident that players given the central contracts will help us achieve our goals with their performance.” The board issued contracts for 2019-20, which have three players, skipper Sarfraz Ahmed, middle-order batsman Babar Azam and the leg-spinner Yasir Shah in the A Category.
Whereas, Category B has eight players, including the experienced batting duo of Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq, opening batsman Imam Ul Haq, left-handed middle-order batsman Haris Sohail, leggie Shadab Khan and fast bowlers, Wahab Riaz and Shaheen Shah Afridi.
The left-arm fast bowler, who recently retired from Test cricket, Mohammad Amir has been demoted from the top category A to C in the newly awarded central contracts. While, Hasan Ali and Fakhar Zaman have also demoted from the category B to C. The category also features opening batsmen Abid Ali, Shan Masood, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Rizwan and Usman Shinwari.
The veteran all-rounders, Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez, who were in the Category A and B respectively in the previous list, have not been handed the central contracts.
The new central contracts will remain in effect from July 1st, 2019 to June 30th, 2020.
