Islamabad: Former captain Babar Azam and current ODI skipper Mohammed Rizwan have been downgraded to category ‘B’ in the latest list of central contracts released by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Tuesday.
The PCB, in fact, has not found any cricketer fit to be in the elite category and has placed 30 players in Category ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’.
The PCB release doesn’t mention the valuation of the contracts.
Babar and Rizwan have been penalised for their consistently poor show across all marquee events, including last year’s T20 World Cup, this year’s ICC Champions Trophy, and the bilaterals against Bangladesh and the West Indies.
T20 skipper Salman Ali Agha, on the other hand, has earned a promotion from group C to B.
The other notable promotions are opener Saim Ayub and pacer Haris Rauf.
Compared to last year’s list of 27 contracted players, the PCB has expanded the pool to 30, including 12 fresh additions.
Additionally, nine players have retained their positions in the same categories.
