Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has moved pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi from Category-A to Category-B. The board on Sunday released the list of 25 players for the new central contract. At the same time, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed and Osama Mir have not been kept in the central contract for the 2024-25 season.
Like last year, the PCB announced the contracts after a delay of about three months after analyzing the players' performance, fitness and behaviour. This contract will last from July 2024 to August 2025.
Maximum 11 players in Category-D Only two got place in Category-A. While B includes Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah and Shan Masood. Apart from this, there are 9 players in C and total 11 players in D.
Fakhar Zaman not in the team even for Australia-Zimbabwe tour Pakistan's left-handed batsman Fakhar Zaman has not been given a place in the contract. He has not been kept under contract for the first time in eight years. He was included in B category till the last central contract, but this time he has been directly excluded. Along with this, Zaman has not been included in the squad for Australia tour as well as Zimbabwe tour.
Only two players in Category-A The board has given Category-A contracts to only two players, former captain Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan.
Shan Masood promoted Pakistan Test team captain Shan Masood has been moved from D to B. The names of Naseem Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi are also included in this.
Five players were included for the first time Five young players were given central contracts for the first time in view of their excellent performance. The five players who have got the central contract for the first time include the names of Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Irfan Khan and Usman Khan. All these five players have been given central contract for one year.
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Graphics Source: NavJivanIndia | VaskarAssets
