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On Wednesday (13th May), the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced the national contract of 18 players for the 2020/21 season. The board has made some surprise picks as new faces have been included in the new contract. Also, senior players Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, and Wahab Riaz are not included while Sarfaraz Ahmed, who was speculated to miss out the contract, has been demoted from category A to category B.

As per PCB CEO Wasim Khan, the contract was announced early then its fixed period to ensure players that they would not be hurt financially by the ongoing global economic crisis. Normally the board issues the new contracts in July, but this year because of the pandemic, it has been announced in May but will come into effect from 1st July.

Babar Azam and Azhar Ali‘s captaincy job have been further extended for the 2020-2021 season. Also, the Babar, who was the captain of T20I, has been handed over the captaincy of the ODI team as well.

Nassem Shah and Iftikhar Ahmad are the new faces in the PCB’s contract:

Naseem Shah, PCB, — Naseem Shah celebrating with Pakistan players (Image Credit: Twitter)

Last year, the pacer Naseem Shah made the Test debut for Pakistan. He became the youngest player in Test cricket history to claim a hat-trick. On the other hand, Iftikar Ahmed performed brilliantly for Pakistan in the shortest format. Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan, Shan Masood and Abid Ali have been awarded the promotion in the contract.

“Naseem Shah became the youngest Test bowler in history to take a fifer and a hat-trick in consecutive Tests against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in Karachi and Rawalpindi, respectively. Iftikhar, who had the best average and strike rate in T20Is amongst the Pakistan batsmen, played two Tests, two ODIs and seven T20Is in the 2019-20 season,” the PCB said in the official media release.

Shaheen Shah Afridi, PCB central contract — Shaheen Afridi. Image Credit: Getty Images.

“Shaheen, following his 18 Test and two T20I wickets, has moved up in Category A, while Abid Ali (174 runs in three Tests and 74 runs in an ODI), Mohammad Rizwan (212 runs and 16 dismissals in five Tests, 50 runs and two dismissals in five T20Is) and Shan Masood (396 runs in five Tests) have been awarded Category B,” the PCB media release added.

Mohammad Amir and two other senior players missed out from the contract:

Mohammad Amir celebrates a wicket. (Image Credit: Getty Images).

PCB took the decision to drop Amir and Wahab from the contract because they were not ready to play the red-ball cricket. Hasan Ali was not named in the contract because he missed the whole season due to injury.

Speaking about Amir, Hasan and Wahab missing out the contract, the chief selector and head coach Misbah-ul-Haq said, “The selectors have made the tough decisions to leave out Amir, Hasan and Wahab but considering Hasan missed most of the season due to an injury and Amir and Wahab decided to focus on white-ball cricket, this was the right move. However, Amir and Wahab are senior and experienced bowlers and they remain in contention as we believe they can still contribute to the Pakistan men’s cricket team and also mentor our young battery of fast bowlers.”

PCB Men’s Central Contract List for 2020-21:

Category A