Such bad days have come … PCB released the Central Contract List, not the name of A category; Babur-Rizwan showed up again

PCB Announced Central Contracts 2025-26: There is a storm of change in Pakistan cricket. A glimpse of this was seen during the announcement of the Asia Cup 2025 team. Where the team’s star cricketers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan were dropped from this tournament.

Now a few days after the Asia Cup was excluded from 2025, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has given another major blow to its two most experienced batsmen Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan. Both players have been removed from the category A of Central Contract and put into the category B. This contract has created a stir in Pakistan cricket.

Babur and Rizwan’s falling credibility

At one time Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan were considered to be the life of the T20 team of Pakistan Cricket. Last year, Babur was also given the captaincy for the T20 World Cup 2024. But in 2025 the picture completely changed. Both were excluded from the T20 series against Bangladesh and West Indies and now they could not find a place in the Asia Cup team. The status falling in the contract list is testifying to their decreasing stature.

PCB gave opportunity to new players

This time Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is giving more focus on new faces and future preparations. This time the list of players has been increased to 30 instead of 27 players of the previous year. 12 new names like Ahmed Danial, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Mirza and Sufayan Mokim have been included for the first time.

Which players included in Pakistan Central Contract 2025-26?

On Tuesday, PCB released the new Central Contract List of the players for 2025/26, which will be valid till 30 June 2026. This time the most shocking decision was that no player was included in the category A.

• Category B (10 players): Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan, Sym Job, Salman Ali Aga, Hasan Ali and Abrar Ahmed.
• Category C (10 players): Nasim Shah, Abdullah Shafiq, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Sahibzada Farhan, Hasan Nawaz, Saud Shakeel, Noman Ali, Faheem Ashraf and Sajid Khan.
• Category D (10 players): Shaan Masood, Khushdil Shah, Hussain Talat, Ahmed Danial, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Wasim Junior, Khurram Shahzad, Salman Mirza and Sufayan Mokim.