Following dismal performances of Pakistan team across all formats, three top players, including former skipper Babar Azam were demoted in the central contracts released by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Tuesday.
Mohammed Rizwan, who along with Babar, were the only players in Category A last year, have been demoted to Category B, while Pakistan’s Test captain Shan Masood, who was in Category B last year has now been placed in Category D. Both Babar and Rizwan were also left out of Pakistan’s squad for the upcoming Asia Cup in the UAE.
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In fact, the PCB has not awarded the prestigious category A contracts to any player for the 2025-26 season, and has placed 10 players each in all the three categories B, C and D, marking a slight increase in the total number of centrally contracted players from 27 to 30.
Fakhar Zaman, who missed out on a central contract for the first time in eight years in 2024 amid disciplinary hearings, is back in category B.
In its official statement, the PCB pointedly stated the absence of a player in the highest band. “Notably, no player has been selected for Category A in this cycle,” the statement said.
There have been promotions elsewhere, though. Abrar Ahmed, Saim Ayub, Haris Rauf, Salman Ali Agha and Shadab Khan have all been promoted to category B. Sufiyan Muqim, Hasan Nawaz and Mohammad Haris, each of whom did not have a central contract last year, have been awarded one – the first one in the cases of Muqim and Hasan.
Meanwhile, several players dropped out of the central contract list altogether, notably Aamir Jamal, Kamran Ghulam, Mir Hamza, Irfan Khan Niazi and Usman Khan.
This is the final year of the landmark three-year deal the players reached with the PCB on central contracts.
Category B: Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Rizwan, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi
Category C: Abdullah Shafique, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Sahibzada Farhan, Sajid Khan, Saud Shakeel
Category D: Ahmed Daniyal, Hussain Talat, Khurram Shahzad, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Wasim jr, Salman Mirza, Shan Masood, Sufyan Muqim