The list of the players proposed for the central contract for the second half of the year is still awaiting final approval of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ijaz Butt. Sans Shahid Afridi and the senior players who were not considered in the previous central contract were lying with the PCB chairman, who as reports suggested was under pressure from certain political quarters to include the former captain in the list. But the PCB is determined because Afridi has conditioned his return to international cricket after he announced retirement to changes in the team management.
Though the PCB has removed Intikhab Alam and Aaqib Javed from the team management but Waqar Younis is still the chief coach of the team, which irks Afridi because he questions the performance of the players and the captain alike. The PCB chief still did not approve the new list of central contracts to be awarded to players for the second half of the year. Reports said that while the selection committee members and the board’s own officials had submitted the list of players to Ijaz Butt, but the chairman had not yet given his approval.
“Apparently Ijaz wants to have discussions on the list submitted to him before he gives approval,” a board official said. He said that he finds certain players in the list that did not deserve to be considered. But sources said the main issue surrounding the award of the new contracts appeared to be, apart from Afridi, the case and availability of former captain Shoaib Malik. Malik and leg-spinner Danish Kaneria are due to appear before the board’s integrity committee on August 15, seeking clearance to play for Pakistan again. The source said all indications were that the board would clear Malik as he had finally submitted all the documents that the integrity committee had asked him to do with reference to an amount of £90,000 in one of his bank accounts.
Last week, the selectors surprised everyone by naming Malik among the reserves for the coming Zimbabwe tour. “There is a feeling that since the integrity committee is due to meet on August 15 and the team does not leave for Zimbabwe until around August 24th, the name of Malik be added in the central contracts list,” the source said. He confirmed that wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal, all-rounder Abdul Razzaq and retired players Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Akhtar did not figure in the list of players who would get the contracts. Ijaz has the final authority to approve the contracts given to the players. This year the board had announced it would award the contracts on half-yearly basis.
