The Pakistan Cricket Board on Thursday announced the men’s central contracts list for the 2022-23 season, with the introduction of separate red and white-ball contracts.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam, wicket-keeper batter Mohammad Rizwan, opener Imam-ul-Haq and the pace-bowling duo of Shaheen Afridi and Hasan Ali were handed both red and white-ball contracts.
Middle-order mainstay Azhar Ali was promoted to red-ball Category A, while Abdullah Shafique and Naseem Shah were placed in Category C for the first time along with Saud Shakeel in Category D.
PCB have increased the number of centrally contracted players from last year’s list of 20 to 33 this year. In the exclusive white-ball contracts list, Fakhar Zaman and Shadab Khan were placed in Category A.
Two names missing from the previous list are Faheem Ashraf and Mohammad Hasnain, who were in Category B and C respectively last year. While veteran spinner Yasir Shah has been moved from Category B to D(red-ball).
Former Pakistan captain and wicket-keeper batter Sarfaraz Ahmed, who last featured in a Test match in January 2019, has been named in Category D of red-ball contracts.
This year’s Emerging Contracts list features all-rounder Qasim Akram, who led Pakistan in this year’s ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup. Shahnawaz Dahani and Usman Qadir have been promoted from Emerging players contracts to Category D this year.
The contract will come into effect from July 1.
RED AND WHITE-BALL CONTRACTS:
Category A – Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Shaheen Shah Afridi
Category B (red-ball) and Category C (white-ball) – Hasan Ali
Category C (red-ball) and Category B (white-ball) – Imam-ul-Haq
RED BALL CONTRACTS :
Category A – Azhar Ali
Category B – Fawad Alam
Category C – Abdullah Shafique, Naseem Shah and Nauman Ali
Category D – Abid Ali, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Saud Shakeel, Shan Masood and Yasir Shah
WHITE-BALL CONTRACTS:
Category A – Fakhar Zaman and Shadab Khan
Category B – Haris Rauf
Category C – Mohammad Nawaz
Category D – Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir and Zahid Mehmood
EMERGING CONTRACTS:
Ali Usman, Haseebullah, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Huraira, Qasim Akram and Salman Ali Agha.
UNI
