The Pakistan Cricket Board’s has decided to demote their 2017 Champions Trophy winning captain Sarfaraz Ahmed from category A to C in the new central contracts to be handed out in August, PTI reported.
The board has also decided against reducing the central contract retainers or match fees of the players despite the coronavirus pandemic suspending all cricket activities around the world.
The PCB, in August last year, had awarded central contracts to only 19 players, omitting seniors like Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik from the list. The number of contracted players were reduced from 32 to 19 as per a policy decision of the Board. Ahmed was kept in category A with Babar Azam and Yasir Shah as at that time, he was the captain in all three formats.
But in November, the selectors not only dropped the wicketkeeper-batsman but also as player from all three formats.
“Sarfaraz has been demoted to category C in the new contracts as he is presently not a member of the playing side,” a PCB official was quoted as saying by PTI.
The new list of contracted players is being finalised by a committee that includes PCB CEO Wasim Khan, director of international cricket operations Zakir Khan and head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq.
In the last central contracts list, the board had increased the retainers by around 25 to 40% and this time, the PCB committee is contemplating increasing the Test match fee despite the financial crunch brought about by the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns world over.
In the existing contracts the Test match fees is Rs 7,62,300 for Category A players, Rs 6,65,280 for Category B and Rs 5,68,260 for Category C players.
The official said Abid Ali is likely to be promoted to Category B with fellow Test opener Shan Masood while pacer Hasan Ali could lose his contract. The players who are presently centrally contracted include:
Category A: Babar Azam, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Yasir Shah.
Category B: Azhar Ali, Haris Sohail, Imam-ul-Haq, Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Abbas, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi and Wahab Riaz.
Category C: Shan Masood, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Aamir, Abid Ali, Mohammad Rizwan, Hasan Ali, Usman Shinwari and Imad Wasim.
