seems like the PCB is ready to shun Akhtar for good.
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KARACHI: The top management of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has finalised a 20-man list of recommended players for year-long central contracts without including the country’s fastest bowlers — Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami — in it.
A top PCB official told ‘The News’ on Saturday that following a series of meetings the board’s top brass has trimmed a list of 30 odd players submitted by the national selection committee to 20 for final approval of the PCB’s Governing Board.
Before that, the list would be reviewed by the PCB’s newly-formed committee on International Cricket chaired by Syed Ali Reza, the National Bank president.
The Governing Board is scheduled to meet in Karachi on January 25 and it is expected that its members might further trim the list down to 15-18 players.
Most of the country’s leading cricketers are in it except for under-performing pacers Shoaib and Sami, who shouldered most of the team’s pace responsibilities during last year’s lost Test series against India.
While Shoaib has been dropped for multiple reasons including his poor disciplinary and fitness record, Sami has been snubbed after failing to get wickets in India. Shoaib is widely regarded as the world’s fastest bowler while Sami is the only other pacer in Pakistan who can hurl the ball at a pace of 150 kph or above.
“We have finalised a list of players which we believe deserve to get central contracts,” said the official, who requested anonymity. “The list has been forwarded to the committee on International Cricket for its input.”
“The list would be discussed at the Governing Board meeting before final approval,” said the official, who added that the contracts would be offered to the selected at the end of this month.
Commenting on the omission of the pace duo, the official said that the PCB wants to send a clear message to the players that they have to ‘perform and behave’ to retain their contracts.
“We devised a plan last year that was aimed at making the central contracts more performance-oriented,” said the official. “That formula was used while finalising the list,” he added.
The formula gives maximum number of points to the performance of a player besides giving marks for his fitness, disciplinary record and seniority.
The PCB suspended all central contracts following Pakistan’s disastrous World Cup campaign last March. Later, they awarded fresh central contracts for a six month period.
The contracted players were divided into three categories with captain Shoaib Malik sharing the A-list with Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul. The then vice-captain Salman Butt was placed in Category-B with Danish Kaneria, Mohammad Sami, Kamran Akmal, Imran Farhat, Yasir Hameed and Mohammad Hafeez.
Misbah-ul-Haq, who later went on to become a star with his heroics at last September’s inaugural World Twenty20 championship, was bracketed with Faisal Iqbal, Rao Iftikhar, Imran Nazir and Yasir Arafat. Misbah is now all set to climb up the ladder and seal a place at least in Category-B.
Shoaib and Sami join senior all-rounder Abdul Razzaq and opener Imran Farhat in the list of players shown the door. Razzaq and Imran have been excluded from the list because they preferred to feature in the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL). Misfiring big-hitter Imran Nazir is also unlikely to see his contract renewed.
The PCB is planning to award central contracts to several newcomers including left-arm medium pacer Sohail Tanvir, all-rounder Fawad Alam and wicket-keeper Sarfarz Ahmed. It is also considering increasing the number of players to be given monthly retainers.
