LAHORE – The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday announced the centralcontracts for the men’s team, promoting fast bowler Hassan Ali andwicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan to category A.Ads by BIDSXCHANGE
The PCB released the details of the contracts after the Governing Board’sapproval of the 2021-22 fiscal year’s budget. The 12-month contracts willrun from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022.
The list was finalised by the panel that comprised Director – InternationalCricket, Zakir Khan, chief selector Muhammad Wasim and Director – HighPerformance, Nadeem Khan, who also consulted head coach Misbah-ul-Haq andcaptain Babar Azam as part of the process. The provisional list was thenshared with Chief Executive Wasim Khan, before it was approved by PCBChairman Mr Ehsan Mani.
Category A – Babar Azam, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi
Category B – Azhar Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Fawad Alam, ShadabKhan and Yasir Shah
Category C – Abid Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, MohammadNawaz, Nauman Ali and Sarfaraz Ahmed
Emerging Category – Imran Butt, Shahnawaz Dahani and Usman QadirUpward revisions to the central contracts include:
– 25 per cent increase in Category A retainer; no increase in Test, ODI and T20I match fee – 25 per cent increase in Category B retainer; Test match fee increased by 15 per cent, ODI match fee increased by 20 per cent and T20I match fee increased by 25 per cent – 25 per cent increase in Category C retainer; 34 per cent increase in Test match fee, 50 per cent increase in ODI match fee, 67 per cent increase in T20I match fee – 15 per cent increase in Emerging Category retainer; 34 per cent increase in Test match fee, 50 per cent increase in ODI match fee, 67 per cent increase in T20I match fee
In the central contract list 2021-22, Hasan Ali and Mohammad Rizwan havebeen offered Category A. Hasan Ali had missed out on the contract last yeardue to an injury but following his stellar performance in the 2020-21 aswell as looking ahead to the 2021-22 season, he has been placed in CategoryA. Rizwan has been rewarded for his consistent performance across allformats by moving him from Category B to Category A.
Likewise, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Nawaz and Nauman Ali havealso been offered central contracts in recognition of their contributionsand performances in the 2020-21 season.
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Haris Rauf and Mohammad Hasnain, who were in the Emerging Category lastyear, have been promoted to Category C, while youngsters Imran Butt,Shahnawaz Dahani and Usman Qadir have been placed in Emerging Category.
Players missing out on the central contracts include Asad Shafiq, HaiderAli, Haris Sohail, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Abbas, Naseem Shah,Shan Masood and Usman Shinwari. However, they remain firmly in theselectors’ plan for the season ahead and have the opportunity to earncontracts for the 2022-23 season, subject to performances during the2021-22 season.
PCB Chief Executive Wasim Khan said: “Selecting 20 players amongst a bigpool of quality cricketers is always a challenging task. I would like tothank the panel for their diligent work in selecting the 2021-22 centralcontract list against an agreed criteria.
“In the new list, we have seen eight new players emerge who have nowgained central contracts. Due to the competitive nature of the centralcontract system nine players who had contracts in 2020-21 have sadly missedout on this occasion. The door remains firmly open for these players andthey will continue to remain in the plans of the selectors.
“Emerging Category recognises and rewards the up and coming talent. We haveseen the emergence of Haris Rauf and Mohammad Hasnain move from an EmergingCategory to Category C, and the likes of Imran Butt, Shahnawaz Dahani andUsman Qadir breaking into the Emerging Category. The Emerging Categoryremains a platform for young players to break into the central contractsystem.
“The equalisation of match fees means that all players who walk outtogether to represent Pakistan will receive the same match feesirrespective of which category they are in, or whether they have a centralcontract or not.
“Despite the challenging economic climate, we as the Pakistan Cricket Boardbelieve that it is important to continue to show advancement in the valueof central contracts. In the last two years, we have seen significantprogress in central contract payments and we will remain committed to theprinciple of improving the value of contracts year-on-year.”
