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PCB Demotes Babar Azam And Mohammad Rizwan In Shocking Move
Follow UsThe two senior Pakistani batters have also been left out of the Asia Cup squad
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced the men’s central contracts list for 2025/26, with some major changes. Senior pros Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan have been demoted from Category A to Category B, just a couple of days after being left out of the Asia Cup squad.
Interestingly, no player has been placed in Category A this year. For the 2024/25 cycle, only Babar and Rizwan were in the top bracket, but both have not featured in a single T20I for Pakistan in 2025, leading to their downgrade.
The central contracts list has been expanded from 27 to 30 players, with Ahmed Daniyal, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Mirza, and Sufyan Moqim being the new additions.
Meanwhile, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, and Shadab Khan have been promoted from Category C to B, whereas Aamir Jamal, Haseebullah, Kamran Ghulam, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Huraira, Muhammad Irfan Khan, and Usman Khan have missed out on contracts this year.
Pakistan’s Centrally Contracted Players for 2025/26
Category B: Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Rizwan, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi
Category C: Abdullah Shafique, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Sahibzada Farhan, Sajid Khan, Saud Shakeel
Category D: Ahmed Daniyal, Hussain Talat, Khurram Shahzad, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Salman Mirza, Shan Masood, Sufyan Moqim