PCB central contract 2021-22: Hassan Ali, Mohammad Rizwan gets promotion to Category A; Azhar Ali demoted

Lahore: Mohammad Rizwan and Hasan Ali were promoted to Category A in the 20 men's cricketer contract list released by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday, for the year 2021-22. 

Hasan, who was not contracted last year due to injury, gained a place in the highest-earning Category A contract list after exceptional performance since the start of the year.

Since his comeback into the side in 2021, Hasan Ali has picked up 40 wickets in 11 matches so far across formats which include 4 five-fors and a ten-wicket haul. He remains Pakistan’s leading wicket-taker in international cricket in 2021.

On the other hand, PCB rewarded Rizwan for his consistent performance across all formats by moving him from Category B to Category A.

Fawad Alam and Fakhar Zaman both received promotions to Category B while Azhar Ali moved down from the previous year’s Category A spot to B.

Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Hasnain, and Nauman Ali were the new faces to be handed a contract in 2021-22. However, Shan Masood, Haris Sohail, Usman Shinwari, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Abbas, Naseem Shah, Shan Masood, and Usman Shinwari were not retained this time.

The 12-month contracts will run from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022 with the list trimmed down from 21 to 20 which includes the three players - Imran Butt, Shahnawaz Dahani, and Usman Qadir - in the Emerging Category.

'Selecting 20 players amongst a big pool of quality cricketers is always a challenging task. I would like to thank the panel for their diligent work in selecting the 2021-22 central contract list against agreed criteria,' said PCB Chief Executive Wasim Khan in a statement.

'Emerging Category recognises and rewards the up and coming talent. We have seen the emergence of Haris Rauf and Mohammad Hasnain move from an Emerging Category to Category C, and the likes of Imran Butt, Shahnawaz Dahani and Usman Qadir breaking into the Emerging Category. The Emerging Category remains a platform for young players to break into the central contract system,' he added.

There was also a 25 percent increase in Category A to C retainers while Emerging Category retainers have been boosted by 15 percent.

'Despite the challenging economic climate, we as the Pakistan Cricket Board believe that it is important to continue to show advancement in the value of central contracts. In the last two years, we have seen significant progress in central contract payments and we will remain committed to the principle of improving the value of contracts year-on-year,' Wasim further said.

Contract List:

Category A – Babar Azam, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi

Category B – Azhar Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Fawad Alam, Shadab Khan and Yasir Shah

Category C – Abid Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Nauman Ali and Sarfaraz Ahmed

Emerging Category – Imran Butt, Shahnawaz Dahani and Usman Qadir (UNI)