Pakistan fast bowlers Amir, Riaz lose central contracts
Pakistan fast bowlers Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz have lost their central contracts after the set decided to give attention to white-ball cricket, officials said Wednesday, as selectors promote younger pacemen.
The Pakistan Cricket Plank (PCB) also confirmed Azhar Ali as Test captain and Babar Azam as one-day and Twenty20 captain for the upcoming season beginning in July.
Eighteen players in three categories received central contracts guaranteeing their monthly salaries and benefits for 12 months.
The exclusion of Amir and Riaz comes as young fast bowlers receive a chance, with 17-year-old pace sensation Naseem Shah included in the "C" category for the very first time.
Naseem became the youngest Check bowler ever sold to have a five-wicket haul within an innings and a hat-trick in consecutive Tests against Sri Lanka (December 2019) and Bangladesh (February 2020) in Karachi and Rawalpindi.
Another little pacer Shaheen Shah was bumped up to the "A" group just after he featured in every three formats for Pakistan during the past 12 months.
"The selectors have made the tough decisions to omit Amir and Wahab but considering Amir and Wahab made a decision to focus on white-ball cricket this was the right approach," chief selector and mind coach Misbah-ul-Haq said.
The approach by the PCB employs Amir announced his retirement from Test cricket at age 28, and after Riaz took an indefinite break from Tests to focus on Twenty20 matches.
Former skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed and leg-spinner Yasir Shah were demoted from "A" to "B" category just after lacklustre performances, even though injured fast bowler Hasan Ali also lost his contract.
Pakistan is scheduled to take up nine Tests, six one-day internationals and 20 T20Is, aside from the Asia Cup and the ICC Men's T20 Environment Cup 2020, but which will rely upon the coronavirus outbreak.
The PCB has also created a fresh Emerging Players' Category. The primary inductees will be Haider Ali and fast bowlers Haris Rauf and Mohammad Hasnain.
PCB Men's Central Contract List for 2020-21:
Category A good: Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi
Category B: Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Haris Sohail, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Shan Masood, Yasir Shah
Category C: Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Imam-ul-Haq, Naseem Shah, Usman Shinwari
Emerging Players' Category: Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain
