LAHORE – Former captains Mohammad Yousuf and Shoaib Malik, and leg-spinner Danish Kaneria have been pushed out of the Pakistan cricket arena as the PCB awarded central contracts to players but ignored the trio. Seven senior members of the team are placed in category A, while five has been given category B contracts and seven were awarded category C contracts.
Players awarded contracts:
Category A: Younus Khan, Misbah-Ul-Haq, Shahid Khan Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Kamran Akmal, Umar Gul, Shoaib Akhtar.
Category B: M Hafeez, Umar Akmal, Abdul Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Wahab Riaz.
Category C: Taufiq Umar, Asad Shafiq, Ahmed Shahzad, Azhar Ali, Adnan Akmal, Tanvir Ahmed, Junaid Khan.
AFP adds: Malik, who also missed out on a contract last time round, and Kaneria were not named after both were investigated as part of a corruption probe last year.
Veteran batsman Mohammad Yousuf, dropped from World Cup squad because of poor form, also failed to win a contract. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said players were placed in three categories considering their seniority. “The central contracts have been given to 19 players for a period of six months from 1st January to 30th June, 2011, and will be reviewed again for the next six months,” PCB said in a statement.
