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Babar Azam-Shaheen Afridi (Image source- Twitter)
On Thursday, June 30, the Pakistan Cricket Board announced the men's central contract list, which will be effective from July 1, Friday. The board has announced new contracts for red-ball and white-ball players, dividing them into two groups, and has added four new names to the Emerging Category.
As a consequence of the division, the PCB has awarded contracts to 33 players, 13 more than the previous year. Pakistan's all-format captain Babar Azam, along with Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Rizwan, and Shaheen Shah Afridi, has been given contracts in both categories.
Azhar Ali, one of 10 players handed red-ball contracts, has been promoted to Category A. Naseem Shah and Abdullah Shafique were awarded Category C contracts for the first time, while Saud Shakeel was awarded a Category D contract.
Eleven restricted-over players have been handed white-ball contracts. Fakhar Zaman and Shadab Khan have been promoted to Category A after moving one grade up. Haris Rauf has also advanced to a Category B contract. Shahnawaz Dahani and Usman Qadir, previous years' emerging players winners, have been awarded a Category D contract.
The board has added five additional players to the Emerging Players category, bringing the total to seven, in order to promote, develop, and support domestic cricket in Pakistan.
Red- and white-ball contracts:
Category A- Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Shaheen Shah Afridi
Red- ball Category B and white-ball Category C- Hasan Ali
Red-ball Category C and white-ball Category B- 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 (Southern Punjab), Haseebullah (Balochistan), Kamran Ghulam (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Haris (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Huraira (Northern), Qasim Akram (Central Punjab) and Salman Ali Agha (Southern Punjab).
Major Developments in the contract system:
- Increase match fees by 10% across all formats.
- Non-playing members' match fee was raised from 50% to 70% of the total match fee.
- The establishment of a captaincy stipend to compensate the team captain for the additional tasks that come with the job.
- Allocation of cash for current players with the goal of controlling top athletes' efforts and ensuring that they are fully prepared, rested, and ready to play for Pakistan as and when needed.