LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Sunday issued 12-month central contracts to 25 players, in which it demoted star pacer Shaheen Afridi and dismissed several other players by not awarding them any contracts.

The development comes as the PCB announced in July a return to its old model of granting a one-year central contract to national team players – conditional on their performance.

The committee also decided that the physical fitness of players would be checked every three months and it would be mandatory for athletes to participate in domestic cricket.

In its latest list of central contracts, the PCB placed Shaheen in Category B while he was previously placed in Category A. Additionally, Fakhar Zaman – who was in Category B – did not get a central contract .

Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan being the only two players in Category A, players who missed out on central contracts include former skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Haris. , Ihsanullah, Shahnawaz Dahani and others.

Pakistani Test skipper Shan Masood has been placed in Category B. However, his inclusion in the said category is subject to the captaincy.

Meanwhile, Shaheen’s demotion comes after he and Babar were “rested” for the second and third Tests of the recently concluded three-match home series against England.

Both players were part of the first test which the greenshirts lost and were subsequently left out of the squad for the remaining matches.

Additionally, several emerging cricketers were given central contracts for the first time, including Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Irfan Khan and Usman Khan.

It should be noted that the existing three-year central contracts were awarded last year and came into force on July 1, 2023.

Regarding the players excluded from the list, sources say that Fakhar, Imam and Osama failed the first fitness tests and will undergo them again in the coming days.

The inclusion of the trio, the sources add, in the central contract will be reviewed after the fitness test.

They also noted that no players opted out of the central contract.

Central contracts

Category A: Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan

Category B: Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shan Masood

Category C: Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel and Shadab Khan

Category D: Aamir Jamal, Haseebullah, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Hurraira, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr and Usman Khan