The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced the central contracts forthe 2025–26 season, awarding deals to 30 players across three categories.According to a statement issued on Tuesday, players have been placed incategories B, C, and D based on performance, with 10 players in each group.
The contracts will be effective from *July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026*.
Compared to last year’s 27, this season sees *30 cricketers earningcontracts*, including 12 new faces such as *Ahmed Daniyal, Faheem Ashraf,Hasan Ali, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Mirza, and Sufiyan Muqeem*. Nineplayers retained their previous category, while eight missed out entirely.
Notably, no player has been awarded an “A” category contract this year.Last year, *Babar Azam* and *Mohammad Rizwan* were placed in the topbracket. Meanwhile, *Naseem Shah* has been demoted from category B to C,and *Shan Masood* from B to D.Category Breakdown:
*Category B:*Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Fakhar Zaman, ShadabKhan, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha.
Read Top Stories
*Category C:*Abdullah Shafique, Naseem Shah, Saud Shakeel, Faheem Ashraf, Sajid Khan,Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Haris, Sahibzada Farhan, Hasan Nawaz, Nauman Ali.
*Category D:*Shan Masood, Hussain Talat, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Wasim Jr, MohammadAbbas Afridi, Khushdil Shah, Ahmed Daniyal, Salman Mirza, Khurram Shahzad,Sufiyan Muqeem.
Last week, PCB also announced the *17-member squad* for the upcomingtri-nation T20I series involving *Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the UAE*,followed by the Asia Cup. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s young stars such as *SufiyanMuqeem, Hasan Nawaz, Saim Ayub, and Sahibzada Farhan* made gains in thelatest ICC T20I rankings.