No category A! Babar Azam undergoes a major setback, demoted in central contracts PCB | Cricket news
New Delhi: former Pakistani captain Babar Azam and the current skipper Mohammad Rizwan were demoted to the “B” category in the last list of central contracts in Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), published on Tuesday. For the 2025-20126 cycle, the PCB did not place any player in the superior category “A”, rather distributing 30 cricket players between categories B, C and D.“The contracts, as of July 1, 2025, on June 30, 2026, reflected the continuous commitment of the Board of Directors to recognize and support national talents. This year’s list sees ten players each placed in categories B, C and D. In particular, no player was selected for category A in this cycle,” the PCB said in a press release.The Council did not disclose the financial details of the contracts.Babar and Rizwan’s demogram comes after a series of disappointing performance in major tournaments, including the T20 2024 World Cup, the ICC 2025 champions trophy and the bilateral series against Bangladesh and the Antilles.Meanwhile, the captain of the T20 Salman Ali Agha was promoted from category C to B, while the operator Saim Ayub and the Haris Rauf stimulator also raised the ladder.The PCB expanded its basin of players contracted from 27 last year to 30 this year, presenting 12 new names: Ahmed Daniyal, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Mirza and Sufyan.The last list of central contracts from Pakistan Cricket Board:
| Category B | Category C | Category D |
|---|---|---|
| Abrar Ahmed | Abdullah Shafic | Ahmed Daniyal |
| Babar Azam | Faheem Ashraf | Hussain |
| Fakhar Zaman | Hasan Mye | Khurram Shahzad |
| Haris Rauf | Mohammad Haris | Khushdil Shah |
| Hasan Ali | Mohammad Nawaz | Mohammad Abbas |
| Mohammad ricewan | Naseem Shah | Mohammad Abbas Afridi |
| Saim Ayub | Noman Ali | Mohammad Wasim Jnr |
| Salman Ali Agha | SAHIBZADA Farhan | Salman Mirza |
| Shadab Khan | Sajid Khan | Shan Masood |
| Shaheen Shah Afridi | Saud Shakeel | Sufyan Moqim |
Nine players have retained their place in the same categories, notably Abdullah Shafic (Category C), Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas Afridi and Mohammad Wasim Jnr (all in category D), with Noman Ali, Sajid Khan, Saud Shakeel (all in category C), and Shaheen Shah Afridi (category B).On the other hand, eight players were abandoned from the list of central contracts: Aamir Jamal, Haseebullah, Kamran Ghulam, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Huraira, Muhammad Irfan Khan and Usman Khan – who were all before in category D.
