Big Setback For Shaheen Afridi In PCB Central Contracts, Babar Azam Placed In...
NDTV
The board has awarded A category contracts to just two players former captain Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan, who will soon be announced as Pakistan's white ball formats captain.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Sunday demoted premier pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi to Category B from Category A, and did not offer central contracts to senior players Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed and Osama Mir for the 2024-25 season. Test skipper Shan Masood remained in Category B despite Pakistan scoring a come-from-behind 2-1 series victory over England recently.
The board awarded the central contracts to a total of 25 players just two short of the 27 who were given contracts last year.
Like last year, the PCB made the contracts announcement after a delay of nearly three months as the players performances, fitness levels and behaviour were analysed.
As part of the PCB's strategy to incentivise, encourage and reward talented and emerging cricketers, five players have been offered central contracts for the first time.
They are: Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Irfan Khan and Usman Khan.