Mohammad Rizwan and Fawad Alam promoted in PCB’s Central Contract List 2020-21

In the recent past, Pakistan’s wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan has managed to impress the who’s who of the cricket fraternity with his heroics with the willow and brilliant keeping. He was also recognized as the Test Cricketer of the year 2020 by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). The cricket body decided to acknowledge the efforts made by the batsman and reward him for his outstanding performance by promoting him to Category A of the PCB’s Central Contract List 2020-21 from Category B.

With this, the 28-year-old joined the league of Elite Pakistan players including skipper Babar Azam, former captain Azhar Ali and star fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi. Pakistan had announced the current central contracts on May 13, 2020, and since then Rizwan has been leading the race of being the highest run-getter for Men in Green in the purest format of the game.

The wicketkeeper-batsman has 529 runs under his belt in seven matches at an average of 52.90. He is also overall the third leading run-scorer in T20Is with 325 runs at an average of 65 and a strike-rate of just under 139.

Apart from Mohammad Rizwan, Fawad Alam also saw promotion as PCB elevated him from A+ domestic contract category to Category C of the PCB Central Contract List 2020-21. Alam had impressed big-time while playing Test matches against New Zealand and South Africa. His 102 against New Zealand in the Boxing Day Test had earned him the PCB Individual Performance of 2020 award.

Further, the Pakistan board also offered a Contract C to Mohammad Hafeez, who was the highest run-getter in T20 Internationals in 2020, but surprisingly the batsman politely turned down the offer.

“Three players were the most deserving and outstanding performers in the season to date and, as such, they needed to be rewarded now instead of waiting for the time when PCB Central Contract List for 2021-22 will be reviewed and announced.

“However, Mohammad Hafeez declined the reward and while I am disappointed, I fully respect his decision. He wants to wait for the PCB Central Contract 2021-22 list, which he is fully entitled to. Hafeez has been one of our star performers of the season and we hope he will carry the form and momentum to Africa,” said PCB Chief Executive Wasim Khan as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.

Updated PCB Men’s Central Contract List for 2020-21

Category A – Azhar Ali (Central Punjab), Babar Azam (Central Punjab), Mohammad Rizwan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and Shaheen Shah Afridi (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)

Category B – Abid Ali (Central Punjab), Asad Shafiq (Sindh), Haris Sohail (Balochistan), Mohammad Abbas (Southern Punjab), Sarfaraz Ahmed (Sindh), Shadab Khan (Northern), Shan Masood (Southern Punjab) and Yasir Shah (Balochistan)

Category C – Fakhar Zaman (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Fawad Alam (Sindh), Iftikhar Ahmed (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Imad Wasim (Northern), Imam-ul-Haq (Balochistan), Naseem Shah (Central Punjab) and Usman Shinwari (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)

Emerging Players’ Category – Haider Ali (Northern), Haris Rauf (Northern) and Mohammad Hasnain (Sindh)