Mumbai, October 27: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Sunday demoted premier pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi to Category B from Category A, and did not offer central contracts to senior players Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed and Usama Mir for the 2024-25 season. Test skipper Shan Masood remained in Category B despite Pakistan scoring a come-from-behind 2-1 series victory over England recently. The board awarded the central contracts to a total of 25 players just two short of the 27 who were given contracts last year. PCB Announces Pakistan Squads for Australia, Zimbabwe White-Ball Series; Babar Azam Rested for ZIM ODIs and T20Is.

Like last year, the PCB made the contracts announcement after a delay of nearly three months as the players performances, fitness levels and behaviour were analysed. As part of the PCB's strategy to incentivise, encourage and reward talented and emerging cricketers, five players have been offered central contracts for the first time. Mohammad Amir Indirectly Hits Out at Ramiz Raja for Disrespecting Shan Masood After PAK vs ENG 3rd Test 2024, Says ‘Behave Like Literate People’.

They are: Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Irfan Khan and Usman Khan. They have been placed in Category D. The board has awarded A category contracts to just two players – former captain Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan, who will soon be announced as Pakistan's white ball formats captain.

List of Centrally Contracted Players

Category A (2): Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan

Category B (3): Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shan Masood

Category C (9): Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel and Shadab Khan

Category D (11): Aamir Jamal, Haseebullah, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Hurraira, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr and Usman Khan.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)