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The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has released a list of 20 players who have been awarded central contracts for the 2021-22 season.
The elite cricketers have been divided into four groups: Category-A, B, C and Emerging Category.
Four players – Babar Azam, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi – have been included in the top-most category.
According to the new central contracts, all players will receive the same match fee when they represent Pakistan, irrespective of their category. It would also apply for players who are not part of the 20-man group.
“The equalisation of match fees means that all players who walk out together to represent Pakistan will receive the same match fees irrespective of which category they are in, or whether they have a central contract or not,” PCB chief executive Wasim Khan said in a press release.
Nine players who were part of the PCB’s annual contract list in 2020-21 have been dropped this time and eight new names have been mentioned in the 20-man list.
However, the PCB chief has assured that those players, who have not been picked for the annual contracts, will continue to remain in the plans of the selectors.
“We have seen eight new players emerge who have now gained central contracts. Due to the competitive nature of the central contract system nine players who had contracts in 2020-21 have sadly missed out on this occasion. The door remains firmly open for these players and they will continue to remain in the plans of the selectors,” Wasim Khan added.
Pakistan men’s central contract list:
- Category A (25% increase in salary) – Babar Azam, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Rizwan, Shaheen Shah Afridi
- Category B (25% increase in salary) – Azhar Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Fawad Alam, Shadab Khan, Yasir Shah
- Category C (25% increase in salary) – Abid Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Nauman Ali, Sarfaraz Ahmed
- Emerging Category (15% increase in salary) – Imran Butt, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir
