Fakhar, Hasan likely to get B Category in PCB contracts

ISLAMABAD: Fakhar Zaman and Hasan Ali are likely to get promotion to B Category as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is planning to dole out contracts for the year 2021-22 before the England tour.

A well-placed source told ‘The News’ that Fakhar’s exceptional display in the recently held one-day and T20 series in South Africa is likely to give him a boost in the contract list. He is currently holding C category.

The other major gainer in the new list will be Hasan Ali, who missed the cut last year because of an injury. “He might walk straight away into A or B category. His most likely category will be B in the fresh list,” the source said.

Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam, former captain Azhar Ali and star fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi will continue to stay in the elite A Category.

Pakistan are facing heavy international commitments in the months to come as the PSL will be followed by the white-ball cricket tour to England. The national cricketers will fly straight from England to West Indies to play two Tests and five-match T20Is.

Then Pakistan have to feature in World Cup T20, a series against Afghanistan and home series against West Indies, New Zealand, and England.

Haris Sohail (Balochistan-B Category), Iftikhar Ahmed (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa-C Category) and Usman Shinwari (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa-C Category) may struggle to retain their places.

There are good chances that Abid Ali (Central Punjab), Sarfraz Ahmed (Sindh), Shadab Khan (Northern), and Yasir Shah (Balochistan) will retain their places in Category A for the next year.

“We are busy with the Pakistan Super League (PSL) these days. Once we settle down, a series of meetings will be held between team management, chief selector and the PCB officials to decide on the contracts. The cricket committee’s feedback will also be taken,” the source said.

It is not yet clear whether Mohammad Hafeez will accept the category C contract as his career looks like ending with the T20 World Cup.

Hafeez was offered Category C contract during reshuffle a few months back which he turned down.

Haris Rauf (Northern) and Mohammad Hasnain (Sindh) who were named in the Emerging Category last year may get the full contract this time. Both the players have been representing the country in limited-overs formats in recent times. Mohammad Nawaz is also likely to be included in the contracts list while Haider Ali, who failed to live up to the expectations during the whole year, may be left out.

The PCB may also give some weightage to cricketers’ performance during the remaining PSL VI matches.