Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Rizwan to face demotion in central contracts - Reports

Things are turning from bad to worse for Pakistan Cricket. In what has been the latest development as per the reports in Pakistan media, it is learned that senior players Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, and Shaheen Afridi are under the radar of the Pakistan Cricket Board.

The reports claimed that Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, and Shaheen Afridi might face demotion in central contracts 2024-25. This comes after the poor performance of the team in the T20 World Cup 2024 and since then there has been a lot going around in the Pakistan team.

Pakistan were one of the worst performers in the tournament. They failed to reach the Super 8 stage of the tournament and faced a group exit, suffering defeats against the United States of America and India, which saw them getting eliminated early.

After the torrid run in the T20 World Cup 2024, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi made a bold statement, saying that he will perform surgery in the team and will make sure that things get right. He dismissed Wahab Riaz and Abdul Razzaq from the PCB selection committee.

Apart from the demotion in the contracts, there were reports which claimed that things were not right between the senior players and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). This is because the board isn't giving the NOCs to key players to play in foreign leagues across the world, which is affecting them monetarily.

PCB has refused to give NOCs to Naseem Shah to play in Hundred and Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, and Mohammad Rizwan for the Global T20 League in Canada. The governing don’t want their players to get injured in the leagues, which might hamper Pakistan’s combination.

With Pakistan Cricket Board is likely to reject the NOCs of the players despite no clashes between leagues and the international games. This is likely to see a collision course between the players and the board over the players not being allowed to play in leagues, where they earn a whopping amount of money.

Pakistan's schedule for the next few months

Pakistan National Cricket Team will be next seen in action during the Test series against Bangladesh National Cricket Team. The series starts on August 21 and it will be also part of the ICC World Test Championship.

After that, the Pakistan National Cricket Team will be playing three Tests against England at home in October. After that, they will be touring Australia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa and then will be hosting a West Indies and a home tri-series featuring South Africa and New Zealand. After that Champions Trophy, and the PSL will be there.

After the debacle in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, Pakistan would be keen to make a strong comeback and silence all their critics. There is also no confirmation of who will be captaining the team as there is no clarity about the future of Babar Azam in white-ball cricket. Shan Masood is likely to continue as Test captain.