The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has put pacer Shaheen Afridi from category-A to B. The board has released the list of 25 players for the new central contract on Sunday. At the same time, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed and Osama Mir have not been kept in central contracts for the 2024-25 season.
PCB announced the contract after
The PCB announced the contract after a delay of nearly three months after analysing the performance, fitness and behaviour of the players like last year. The contract runs from July 2024 to August 2025. Most 11 players in Category D, Only two have got a place in Category-A. While B includes Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah and Shan Masood. Apart from this, there are 9 in C and 11 in D.
very poor performance in T20
Talking about Shaheen Afridi, the last one year has been very ups and downs for him, in which he was made the new captain of the team in T20 after the embarrassing performance of the Pakistani team in the 2023 ODI World Cup. However, after the defeat of the Pakistani team on the tour of New Zealand, the Pakistani Cricket Board decided to withdraw the captaincy from Afridi. Apart from this, his Test with the ball also saw a very poor performance in T20. The PCB, who had included Shaheen Afridi in Category A in the previous players contract, has been given a place in the B category this time. This new central contract of PCB will be effective from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025.
Shan Masood part of Category B
In the new players contract issued by the PCB, while Shaheen Afridi is part of Category B, former Pakistan captain Babar Azam, who was dropped from the team for the last two Tests against England, has got a place in Category A. At the same time, Pakistan team’s Test captain Shan Masood is now part of Category B, which also includes the name of Naseem Shah.