PCB announces Central Contracts for 2024-25

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has officially announced central contracts for 25 players for the 2024-25 season, a key step in the board’s strategic three-year plan to promote and reward Pakistan’s cricket talent.

This season, the contracts reflect both reward for top performers and opportunities for emerging players, with Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan leading in Category A.

Fakhar Zaman was omitted from the list. The PCB also excluded senior players like Iftikhar Ahmed, Hassan Ali, Sarfaraz Ahmed, and Imam-ul-Haq from this year’s contracts.

Test captain Shan Masood saw an elevation from Category D to Category B after his captaincy contributed to Pakistan’s impressive 2-1 Test series victory over England. In contrast, premier pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi was downgraded from Category A to Category B, following his limited involvement in recent Test matches.

Five emerging cricketers have received central contracts for the first time, each positioned in Category D. This group comprises Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Irfan Khan, and Usman Khan.

List of centrally contracted players:

Category A (2): Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan.

Category B (3): Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shan Masood.

Category C (9): Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel and Shadab Khan.

Category D (11): Aamir Jamal, Haseebullah, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Hurraira, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr and Usman Khan.