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Mohammad Rizwan gets promotion; Imad Wasim, Asad Shafiq axed as PCB announces central contracts
Imad Wasim, Asad Shafiq, and Mohammad Abbas were the noted omissions this year while youngsters Haider Ali and Naseem Shah also missed out on the central contract. Veteran batsman Azhar Ali was demoted to Category B.
Captain Babar Azam, fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi held on to their positions in the 'A' category while vice-captain Mohammad Rizwan got a promotion and medium pacer Hasan Ali became the latest entry in the top-bracket after missing out last year as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday announced announced an enhanced and performance-based central contract list 2021-22 for 20 elite men cricketers.
Imad Wasim, Asad Shafiq, and Mohammad Abbas were the noted omissions this year while youngsters Haider Ali and Naseem Shah also missed out on the central contract.
Veteran batsman Azhar Ali was demoted to Category B.
Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Nawaz and Nauman Ali were offered central contracts in recognition of their contributions and performances in the 2020-21 season.
Haris Rauf and Mohammad Hasnain, who were in the Emerging Category last year, have been promoted to Category C, while youngsters Imran Butt, Shahnawaz Dahani and Usman Qadir have been placed in Emerging Category.
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PCB Chief Executive Wasim Khan: “Selecting 20 players amongst a big pool of quality cricketers is always a challenging task. I would like to thank the panel for their diligent work in selecting the 2021-22 central contract list against an agreed criteria.
“In the new list, we have seen eight new players emerge who have now gained central contracts. Due to the competitive nature of the central contract system nine players who had contracts in 2020-21 have sadly missed out on this occasion. The door remains firmly open for these players and they will continue to remain in the plans of the selectors.
“Emerging Category recognises and rewards the up and coming talent. We have seen the emergence of Haris Rauf and Mohammad Hasnain move from an Emerging Category to Category C, and the likes of Imran Butt, Shahnawaz Dahani and Usman Qadir breaking into the Emerging Category. The Emerging Category remains a platform for young players to break into the central contract system.
“The equalisation of match fees means that all players who walk out together to represent Pakistan will receive the same match fees irrespective of which category they are in, or whether they have a central contract or not.
“Despite the challenging economic climate, we as the Pakistan Cricket Board believe that it is important to continue to show advancement in the value of central contracts. In the last two years, we have seen significant progress in central contract payments and we will remain committed to the principle of improving the value of contracts year-on-year.”
The list was finalised by the panel that comprised Director – International Cricket, Zakir Khan, chief selector Muhammad Wasim and Director – High Performance, Nadeem Khan, who also consulted head coach Misbah-ul-Haq and captain Babar Azam as part of the process. The provisional list was then shared with Chief Executive Wasim Khan, before it was approved by PCB Chairman Mr Ehsan Mani.
The 12-month contracts will run from 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022.
Men’s central contract list 2021-22 is (reduced from 21 to 20):
Category A – Babar Azam, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi
Category B – Azhar Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Fawad Alam, Shadab Khan and Yasir Shah
Category C – Abid Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Nauman Ali and Sarfaraz Ahmed
Emerging Category – Imran Butt, Shahnawaz Dahani and Usman Qadir
There was a 25% fee increase in categories A, B, and C. The Emerging Category got a hike of 15%.
There was no increase in Test, ODI and T20I match fee for Category A.
Test match fee was increased by 15%, ODI match fee increased by 20% and T20I match fee increased by 25% for Category B.
The Category C players got a hike of 34% in Test match fee, 50% in ODI match fee, 67% in T20I match fee.
