Pakistani opener Fakhar Zaman’s exclusion from the PCB’s Central contracts has irked many former and current players, and one of them is pacer Mohammad Amir. A couple of days back, board chairman Mohsin Naqvi had confirmed, that the part reason for his exclusion was his tweet supporting Babar Azam. But the southpaw batter has received support from his fellow teammate.
Fakhar Zaman Out of Team, PCB Central Contracts
In fact, Fakhar was not even included in the upcoming ODI series vs Australia. Amir tweeted, “I am surprised that Fakhar Zaman is not in the team. He is the only impact player we have in white ball cricket,” Amir wrote on X.
“The tweet was an issue, but the bigger matter is his fitness. There is a show-cause notice pending against him, and we will see about that. He needs to prove his fitness. His viewpoint was appreciated in the Connection Camp, and I am grateful to him for that, but you cannot publicly comment on the selection committee’s decisions. However, the bigger issue remains his fitness,” Naqvi had said.
Meanwhile, as many as five new players were offered PCB’s central contracts — Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Irfan Khan and Usman Khan, who are all in Category D. Surprisingly, Shaheen Shah was dropped to Category B, while Test skipper Shan Masood was only good enough for Category B as well.
PCB Central Contract List:
Category A: Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan.
Category B: Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shan Masood.
Category C: Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel and 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 and Usman Khan.