The Pakistan Cricket Board has sent a not-so-subtle message to national team players while announcing new central contracts for the 2025/26 season.
The PCB has decided to scrap the top-tier A category contracts for the new season, handing out only B, C and D category contracts on Tuesday – ostensibly to send a message to players that players will be gauged strictly on performance.
While the number of players centrally contracted has grown to 30, the removal of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan from the A category shows the PCB is beginning to move away from star batters.
Over the weekend, both Babar and Rizwan were excluded from the squad for the upcoming T20 tri-series and Asia Cup in the UAE. That was seen as more or less the end of their T20 International careers, even though there is a chance one of them might find a way back – owing to experience – before the T20 World Cup early next year.
With the announcement of the new central contracts, the PCB has, essentially, deemed that no player in Pakistan is worthy of a top contract.
Instead, both Babar and Rizwan were pushed down to B category alongside Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Shadab Khan and Shaheen Afridi.
Pakistan T20 captain Salman Agha, batter Saim Ayub and mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed have also received the best available B contracts.
A total of eight players lost their contracts altogether. Among them was Usman Khan – the former UAE batter who gave up a reasonably reliable career in the Emirates last year to become a Pakistan international.
Usman has been banned from playing in any UAE-sanctioned competitions for the next five years by the Emirates Cricket Board, which means he only has the Pakistan Super League to fall back upon, with the International League T20 also a non-starter.
Pakistan central contacts for 2025/26
Category B (3 million rupees per month / $10,600 per month)
Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Rizwan, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha
Category C (1.75 million rupees per month / $6,200 per month)
Naseem Shah, Abdullah Shafique, Mohammad Haris, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Nawaz, Sahibzada Farhan, Mohammad Nawaz, Saud Shakeel, Noman Ali, Sajid Khan
Category D (500,000 rupees per month / $1,700 per month)
Shan Masood, Ahmed Daniyal, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Hussain Talat, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Salman Mirza, Sufiyan Muqeem
Note: Central contract values according to previous season.
