Umar Akmal, Ahmed Shehzad demoted in PCB 's contract list

Batsmen Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad have been dropped to category D, the lowest level of contracts, by the PCB while Shahid Afridi, Junaid Khan and Fawad Alam were cut from the contracted list of players altogether. Leg-spinner Yasir Shah and wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed have been awarded category-A contracts. The PCB announced on Thursday the list of 30 players given contracts valid from October 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017. The following are the major changes to the list from the previous year:

• Mohammad Amir has been given a new category-B contract.
• Afridi was in the A-list last year but has not been given a contract this time.
• Junaid and Saeed Ajmal were not given a contract, after being in the B category last year.
• Yasir and Sarfraz are new additions in the A list.
• Shehzad was dropped from category B to D.
• Fawad had a category-C contract last year, but was cut from this year’s list.
• Umar Akmal and Anwar Ali dropped from category C to D.
• Babar Azam, Imad Wasim and Sami Aslam moved up from category D to C.
• Sohaib Maqsood and Umar Amin were dropped, having been in category D last year.
• Hasan Ali, Khalid Latif, Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Sohail Khan and Sohail Tanvir were new in category C, after not getting contracts last year.
• Mohammad Asghar was given a category D contract. He was not in the list last year.

Here are the categories:

Category A: Azhar Ali, Mohammad Hafeez, Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed, Yasir Shah

Category B: Wahab Riaz, Rahat Ali, Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Amir

Category C: Haris Sohail, Mohammad Rizwan, Imran Khan, Shan Masood, Mohammad Irfan, Sami Aslam, Babar Azam, Imad Wasim, Hasan Ali, Khalid Latif, Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Sohail Khan, Sohail Tanvir

Category D: Anwar Ali, Zulfiqar Babar, Mohammad Asghar, Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Akmal