PCB To Offer Central Contract To Mohammad Hafeez; Mohmmad Rizwan To Retain His Category A Contract, Alam Set To Be Promoted

Veteran Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez is all set to be offered a new contract in the higher category by the Pakistan Cricket Board [PCB] after the all-rounder refused a Grade C retainer, a few months back.

Mohammad Hafeez, alongside Shoaib Malik, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amie, did not get a central contract from PCB last year but following his brilliant performances in T20 cricket, he was offered a Grade C short-term contract, which he refused.

The tenure of the current contracts will end in June, and a source in the PCB has revealed that the all-rounder could be awarded a central contract in the higher category.

“The cricket committee of the PCB will be meeting with the head coach, coaches, and captain of the national team when it returns from Zimbabwe after which the chief selector will sit down with the management and PCB CEO and finalize the list of players to be given the new central contracts,” the source said as quoted by PTI.

The source further added that the PCB is looking to give added incentives to players for spending such a long period of time in bio-bubble in the last 12 months and while the likes of Mohammad Rizwan, Fawad Khan Mohammad Hafeez, Hassan Ali and Faheem Ashraf could get added incentives, Usman Shinwari and Iftikhar Ahmed, etc could lose their contracts.

“Hafeez is likely to be offered a new contract in an enhanced category while senior batsman and former captain, Azhar Ali is likely to be demoted from category A to B as he is now playing just one format,” he added.

“Rizwan was initially named in category B of the contracts last year but earlier this year the board gave him a promotion because of his form and he will be retained in category A,” he said.

Fawad Alam, who has racked up three Test hundreds since his comeback to the team last year, was not a part of the central contract list but was later added in Category C while Ruzwan was promoted to Category A.

While Fawad Alam is likely to be promoted to Category B, Mohammad Rizwan is all set to retain his name in Category A.

“Fawad will get a promotion to category B in new contracts because of his superb performances as will opener Fakhar Zaman who is also presently in category C.” the source added.

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