Pakistani players, current and ex, have a bad habit of taking to social media for the smallest of issues, and that lands them in a soup without a fail. Now, explosive batter Fakhar Zaman has to bear the brunt of PCB chairman’s ire, as he is not included in the recently announced list of centrally contracted players.
Fakhar Zaman in Trouble, Mohsin Naqvi Clarifies
His fault, one would ask? He tweeted in favour of “out of form” Babar Azam. On October 13, he tweeted, “It’s concerning to hear suggestions about dropping Babar Azam. India didn’t bench Virat Kohli during his rough stretch between 2020 and 2023, when he averaged 19.33, 28.21, and 26.50, respectively. If we are considering sidelining our premier batsman, arguably the best Pakistan has ever produced, it could send a deeply negative message across the team. There is still time to avoid pressing the panic button; we should focus on safeguarding our key players rather than undermining them.”
That did not go down well with the PCB, and Fakhar faced the axe. In fact, chairman Mohsin Naqvi was rather blunt about the reason for his exclusion from the list. In a press conference on Sunday, Naqvi made it clear that the southpaw’s exclusion, was a result of his reckless tweet. And a couple of more reasons.
“Look, Fakhar Zaman tweet matters, but fitness is major issue. There are two major issues in his fitness. There is also a pending show cause notice against him which is yet to be decided on. That is why he has been excluded,” Mohsin Naqvi clarified.
PCB Centrally contracted players
Category A – Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan.
Category B – Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood.
Category C – Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel, Shadab Khan.
Category D – Aamir Jamal, Haseebullah, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Hurraira, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Usman Khan.
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