Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced the list of centrally contracted players for the 2025-26 season today. Among other players, they shockingly demoted their Test captain, Shan Masood, to the lowest category.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), on Tuesday (August 19), announced the list of centrally contracted players for the 2025-26 season. Even though the major change was the demotion of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, what caught the eye was the relegation of Pakistan’s Test captain, Shan Masood, from category B to category D.
This is a shocking development as none of the Test captains have yet been categorised so low in the contract. Pakistan last played Tests in January earlier this year at home against the West Indies and the two-match series ended in a 1-1 draw. Before that, they defeated England 2-1 at home before losing to South Africa 2-0 away from home.
Masood has led Pakistan in the longest format in 12 matches so far and has won three Tests only, while losing nine. With a win percentage of only 25, there is a chance of Masood losing his Test captaincy as well. Pakistan don’t play many Test matches, and they are next scheduled to face South Africa at home in October, and if indeed Masood is losing his captaincy, it could be announced in due course. For now, it looks more weird that a captain of a full-member country is in the lowest category in the contract list.
PCB drop 8 players from contract list
Interestingly, Pakistan have dropped some of the players whom they backed over the last year or so.ย Aamir Jamal, Haseebullah, Kamran Ghulam, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Huraira, Muhammad Irfan Khan and Usman Khan have been left out of the contract list. At the same time, PCB have also added 12 players to the roster and they areย 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.
Pakistan men’s contracted players list for 2025-26
Category B (10 players): Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Rizwan, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shadab Khan and Shaheen Shah Afridi
Category C (10 players): Abdullah Shafique, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Sahibzada Farhan, Sajid Khan and Saud Shakeel
Category D (10 players): Ahmed Daniyal, Hussain Talat, Khurram Shahzad, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Salman Mirza, Shan Masood and Sufyan Moqim
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