Pakistan announce contracts, Hafeez and Malik left out

Shoaib Malik retired from ODI cricket after Pakistan’s World Cup exit

There was no place for Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik in the Pakistan Cricket Board’s central contracts for the 2019-20 season.

However, PCB clarified that both Malik and Hafeez, who were placed in Category A and B, respectively, last season, will be available for selection for future assignments.

Announcing the news yesterday, the Board reduced the list of players who are centrally contracted from 33 last cycle to 19 this year, also reducing the number of categories from five to three. Out of six players who were given Category A contracts, only Babar Azam, Sarfaraz Ahmed, and Yasir Shah retained their spots in the top group while Azhar Ali was demoted to B.

Malik announced his retirement from one-day international cricket last month after his team bowed out of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 in July. “I had planned this for a few years to retire after the last Pakistan World Cup match. I’m sad that I’ll be leaving a format of cricket that I love but happy that I’ll have more time to spend with my family. This will also allow me to focus on Twenty20 cricket,” he said after his team’s last World Cup game against Bangladesh. 

The notable promotions are Shaheen Afridi, who was placed in the E group last season, finding a place in Category B. Afridi was brilliant in Pakistan’s World Cup campaign, in which he took 16 wickets in five games, averaging 14.62 with the ball.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Amir, who, with 17 scalps to his name, was Pakistan’s leading wicket-taker in the 50-over tournament, announced his retirement from the red-ball format of the game last month and was given the Category C contract for this season. 

Managing Director Wasim Khan congratulated the players saying: “I want to congratulate all those who have been offered central contracts for the next season. We have significantly increased the financial value of the 2019-20 retainers across each category. This is over and above what had been agreed on in the current agreement, which is due to run until 2021.”

During the 2019-20 season, which will run from 1 July to 30 June 2020, Pakistan will be playing two Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is against Sri Lanka while they will also play two Tests and three ODIs each with Australia and Bangladesh.