Islamabad, Oct 27: Pakistan Cricket Board has finalized the Central Contract list for 2024-25 season. The Central Contracts for the season will be effective from 1 July 2024 for a period of 12 months.
Pakistan’s former captain, Babar Azam and wicket-keeper batter, Mohammad Rizwan have been retained in the ‘A’ Category while speedsters Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi have been demoted from ‘A’ to ‘B’.
Test skipper Shan Masood has been awarded the Category ‘B’ central contract, which is slated as Subject to Captaincy. Similarly, spinner Noman Ali is awarded ‘C’ Category contract subject to fitness.
In a shocking update, Pakistan’s explosive opener, Fakhar Zaman has not been awarded a central contract this time around. It is speculated that Fakhar’s dissent towards PCB regarding dropping of Babar Azam from the squad is the main reason behind him not getting a contract.
Along with Fakhar, the likes of Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Haris, Iftikhar Ahmed, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Imam-ul-Haq and plenty more have not been offered the contracts for the ongoing cricket season.
Meanwhile, 5 players have been awarded the contract for the first time in their careers. Irfan Khan Niazi, Mohammad Ali, Abbas Afridi, Khurram Shahzad and Usman Khan have been included in the ‘D’ category of the central contracts.
Here is the list of Pakistan Central Contracts:
| Category A | Category B | Category C | Category D |
| Babar Azam | Shan Masood (Subject to captaincy) | Shadab Khan | Aamer Jamal |
| Mohammad Rizwan | Naseem Shah | Saud Shakeel | M Wasim Jr. |
| Shaheen Afridi | Salman Ali Agha | Mohammad Hurraira | |
| Abrar Ahmed | Mir Hamza | ||
| Sajid Khan | Khurram Shahzad | ||
| Abdullah Shafique | Mohammad Ali | ||
| Saim Ayub | Usman Khan | ||
| Haris Rauf | Irfan Khan Niazi | ||
| Noman Ali (Subject to Fitness) | Haseebullah | ||
| Abbas Afridi | |||
| Kamran Ghulam |
Players Dropped from Central Contract:
| Fakhar Zaman | Imad Wasim | Imam-ul-Haq | Sarfaraz Ahmed | Mohammad Nawaz | Faheem Ashraf |
| Mohammad Haris | Ihsanullah | Iftikhar Ahmed | Shahnawaz Dahani | Zaman Khan | Usama Mir |
