No place for Shoaib Malik, Mohammed Hafeez as PCB give central contracts to only 19 cricketers

PCB MD Khan cleared that only those cricketers who can represent Pakistan in different formats in the next 12 months have been considered for the contracts, giving clear indications that Malik and Hafeez do not feature in their future plans.

The Pakistan Cricket Board on Thursday announced central contracts for the 2019-20 season. The list, which is divided in three categories – A, B and C - has been trimmed from 33 to 19 cricketers this year.

Shoaib Malik, who announced his retirement from ODIs after World Cup 2019, has lost his PCB central contract(Action Images via Reuters)

Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed, star batsman Babar Azam and Test spinner Yasir Shah have been included in Category A while senior cricketers Mohammed Hafeez and Shoaib Malik were excluded from the central contracts.

“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 PCB Managing Director Wasim Khan.

Khan cleared that only those cricketers who can represent Pakistan in different formats in the next 12 months have been considered for the contracts, giving clear indications that Malik and Hafeez do not feature in their future plans.

As a matter of fact, Malik is only available for T20s after the all-rounder announced his retirement from ODIs after the ICC World Cup 2019.

“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,” Khan added.

Here are the categories

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

Pakistan will play six World Test Championship Tests, three ODIs and nine T20Is in the next season.

Pakistan cricket team’s schedule from 1 August 2019 to 30 June 2020:

v Sri Lanka – 2 Tests, 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is (split tour)

v Australia – 2 Tests, 3 T20Is

v Bangladesh – 2 Tests, 3 T20Is