Fakhar Zaman, Hasan Ali and Faheem Ashraf are expected to be included in Pakistan Cricket Board’s central contracts list for the 2025-26 season after being dropped last year. The PCB had delayed the announcement of the central contracts last year until October although these contracts run from July 1 to June 30. These three players were excluded from the previous list due to poor performances and fitness issues, but their impressive performances in the Pakistan Super League have brought them back into reckoning.
“The PCB management and national selectors have already started deliberations on the players to be given the new central contracts in July,” a source in the board said.
The source added that top performers in domestic circuit and a few young players would also be included in the ‘D’ category along with incentives.
However, a few other players could lose their contracts owing to ordinary performances in the last 7-8 months.
The PCB and senior players had agreed upon a three-year financial structure for the central contracts in 2023 and this is the last year of the current model.
“There is no chance of any increase in monthly retainers or match fees. The financial model will remain the same for 2025-26 as well as the PCB is not satisfied with the team performances,” the source added.
The current list of players with central contracts includes Babar Azam, and Mohammad Rizwan in top category.
Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shan Masood feature in Category B while Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel and Shadab Khan are in Category C.
The players in Category D are Aamir Jamal, Haseebullah, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Hurraira, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Mohammad Wasim Jr and Usman Khan. PTI COR DDV
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