Former captain slams PCB for undervaluing series winners in central contracts

Former Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez has reacted strongly to the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) decision to remove the A-category from the newly announced central contracts for the 2025–26 season.

Taking to social media platform X, Hafeez expressed his disappointment over the allocation of categories, highlighting that even the Test captain and recent series winners were placed in lower tiers.

“No A-category player in Pakistan cricket. Test captain in D category. Test match and series winners like Sajid Khan, Noman Ali & Saud Shakeel are in C category. Less importance to Test cricket and first-class cricket is the biggest reason for the recent downfall,” he wrote.

The PCB announced central contracts for 30 men’s cricketers on Tuesday, with no player included in category A this year. Unlike previous editions, ten players each have been placed in categories B, C, and D.

The pool of contracted players has also expanded from 27 to 30, with 12 new names earning spots. 

These include Ahmed Daniyal, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Mirza and Sufyan Moqim.

Meanwhile, five players — Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, and Shadab Khan — have been promoted from Category C to B following strong recent performances. 

Nine others have retained their positions, including Abdullah Shafique in Category C, and Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, and Mohammad Wasim Jr in Category D.

The list also sees the exclusion of eight notable performers, with Aamir Jamal, Haseebullah, Kamran Ghulam, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Huraira, Muhammad Irfan Khan, and Usman Khan not awarded contracts for the upcoming year.

The new contracts will be effective from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026.