Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has released its Men’s central contract list 2020-21 which would be come into effect from July 1. The teenage bowling sensation Naseem Shah, who took with a hat-trick against Bangladesh, has been awarded the central contract for his performance.
Besides Naseem Shah, right-handed batsman Iftikhar Ahmed is another face who has been included in the 18th member list.
Criteria for contract list was simple: Misbah-ul-Haq
Apart from the new inclusions, some of the players have promoted from their current categories.
While Abid Ali, Mohammad Rizwan and Shan Masood get a promotion to ‘B’ category, Shaheen Afridi, the terrific fast bowler has been promoted to category ‘A’.
Pakistan men’s team chief coach, Misbah-ul-Haq said that they have prepared this list on the basis of merits.
“The philosophy and criteria for this merit-based central contract list was simple and straightforward: the selectors reviewed player performances in the past 12 months and then looked ahead to our team requirements in the forthcoming 12 months,” said Pakistan Misbah.
Captains get extension
Releasing the contacted list, Pakistan Cricket Board also confirmed that Azhar Ali gets an extension as Test captain while Babar Azam’s role as limited over captain has been extended.
“I want to congratulate Azhar Ali and Babar Azam for getting captaincy extensions. This is absolutely the right decision as they also require certainty and clarity on their future roles.
I am sure they will now start looking to the future and start planning so that they can build sides that can perform at the expected levels,” added Misbah.
Pakistani Coach also explained the tough decision he has made on some senior players including Wahab Riyaz.
However, he hoped that experience and knowledge of these players will benefit Pakistan in long run.
