Malik, Hafeez set to lose central contract

Veteran all-rounders Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez are set to be dropped from the list of cricketers expected to get central contract for the season 2019-20.

According to sources, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) officials will meet on Thursday to decide the names, who will be awarded central contract.

The meeting will be chaired by the PCB Managing Director Wasim Khan, who will discuss the list of probable players for the central contract with Zakir Khan (Director - International Cricket and Committee Secretary), Mudassar Nazar (Director - Academies), Haroon Rashid (Director - Domestic Cricket) and Head Coach Mickey Arthur.

Apart from Malik and Hafeez, four to five regular members of the side can also miss out from getting contracts, however final decision will be taken after the meeting.

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The PCB is expected to increase player’s monthly remuneration along with their match fees per game by 20 per cent. Board is also contemplating increasing the match fees of players who only represent Pakistan in Test cricket.

Last year, the PCB had announced a list of 33 centrally contracted players divided in five categories for the year 2018-19. However, some of the contracted players didn’t get to represent Pakistan at all during the last season.

Hence, the PCB has decided to reduce the number of centrally contracted players from 33 to around 15 to 20 this season.

Cricketers, who miss out on central contracts, will be eligible to get a contract from the provincial teams according to the new domestic structure.

The list of names that will be discussed in the meeting include Babar Azam, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Azhar Ali, Mohammad Hafeez, Faheem Ashraf, Asad Shafiq, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Amir, Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Abbas, Haris Sohail, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan, Imamul Haq, Usman Shinwari, Shan Masood, Imad Wasim, Asif Ali, Mohammad Rizwan, Abid Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi.

After discussions, the list will be further shortened and the players will be divided into different categories.