Sarfraz, Yasir promoted as PCB demotes Akmal, Shehzad

Afridi and Ajmal cut from list of centrally-contracted players

KARACHI: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Thursday promoted T20 captain Sarfraz Ahmed and leggie Yasir Shah to category A as it announced central contracts for 30 players.

While the duo of Sarfraz and Yasir were rewarded for their excellent contributions towards the national team’s cause, batters Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal were demoted to category D, the lowest level in the PCB contracts. Shehzad was dropped from category B to D. Umar Akmal and Anwar Ali were dropped from category C to D.

Yasir and Sarfraz are new additions in the A list which includes the likes of Misbah-ul-Haq and Azhar Ali.

Senior players Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal, still harboring hopes of getting a call-up for national duty, were given a clear signal by the PCB that they weren’t needed anymore as the Board decided to omit them from the list. Afridi was in the A-list last year but has not been given a contract this time.

Also dropped from the contracted list were Fawad Alam and Junaid Khan. Junaid and Saeed Ajmal were not given a contract, after being in the B category last year. Fawad had a category-C contract last year, but was cut from this year’s list.

The Board has announced the list of 30 players given contracts valid from October 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017. In the new list, left-arm pacer Mohammad Amir has been given a new category-B contract.

Babar Azam, Imad Wasim and Sami Aslam moved up from category D to C. Sohaib Maqsood and Umar Amin were dropped, having been in category D last year.

Hasan Ali, Khalid Latif, Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Sohail Khan and Sohail Tanvir were new in category C, after not getting contracts last year.

Mohammad Asghar was given a category D contract. He was not in the list last year.

Category A: Azhar Ali, Mohammad Hafeez, Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed, Yasir Shah

Category B: Wahab Riaz, Rahat Ali, Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Amir

Category C: Haris Sohail, Mohammad Rizwan, Imran Khan, Shan Masood, Mohammad Irfan, Sami Aslam, Babar Azam, Imad Wasim, Hasan Ali, Khalid Latif, Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Sohail Khan, Sohail Tanvir

Category D: Anwar Ali, Zulfiqar Babar, Mohammad Asghar, Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Akmal.