Pakistan captain Babar Azam, wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan, opener Imam-ul-Haq, pacers Shaheen Shah Afridi and Hasan Ali were awarded both red and white-ball central contracts by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Thursday.
Amongst these five, Babar, Rizwan and Shaheen are in Category A contracts in both formats. While Hasan has a Category B contract in red-ball cricket and Category C contract in white-ball cricket, Imam fetched a Category B contract in white-ball cricket while finding himself in Category C contract in red-ball cricket.
This is the first time that the PCB has introduced separate central contracts in both red and white-ball cricket, which come into effect from Friday for the 2022/23 season. PCB added that four more players have been added to the Emerging Category, taking the total of players receiving men’s contracts to 33 players, 13 more than the previous season.