Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik Excluded from PCB’s Central Contract

On Thursday (August 8), Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced the centrally contracted players’ names for the 2019-20 season where a massive number of cricketers have lost it. PCB selected 19 players from 33 for the contract where Babar Azam, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Yasir Shah earned the category A while Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik failed to make it to the cut, although they will be available for selection.

As stated by the PCB media release which read that it was decided, keeping a couple of things in mind. “players’ performance and fitness in the past 12 months, and the formats that they are likely to represent Pakistan in the upcoming season.” However, PCB will give only three grades of contracts for the upcoming season which included two Tests, three ODIs and as many T20Is against Sri Lanka. Although Pakistan didn’t have a great ICC World cup.

List of contracted players (From July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020):

Category A: Babar Azam, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Yasir Shah

Category B: Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Haris Sohail, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Abbas, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Wahab Riaz

Category C: Abid Ali, Hasan Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan, Shan Masood and Usman Shinwari

“I want to congratulate all those who have been offered central contracts for the next season. We have significantly increased the financial value of the 2019-20 retainers across each category. This is over and above what had been agreed in the current agreement, which is due to run until 2021,” said the PCB Managing Director, Wasim Khan.

“The PCB have set high standards and targets in its strategic plan for the upcoming season. We want to attach a high value to receiving a central contract. We have complete faith and confidence that these players will set-up and produce on-field performances that will help us collectively achieve our objectives and targets,” he concluded.