Saeed Ajmal ‘earns’ a slot in category B despite surrendering his Pakistan berth in all three formats. PHOTO: AFP
The new central contracts for national players must delight the 27 players placed in the four categories. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has increased the match fee and monthly retainers by 10 per cent across the board.
The grievances of the seniors have also been addressed with the captains of the three formats — Misbahul Haq, Azhar Ali and Shahid Afridi — all landing Category A contracts. Younus Khan, Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik are also bracketed in the top tier.
Interestingly, both Misbah and Afridi are at the twilight of their distinguished careers and only feature in one format each. Afridi has already announced that he will quit international cricket after the World T20 in India next year. Speculations are also rife on Misbah’s exit from the game — likely at the end of the ‘home season’ in the UAE.
Read: Deadlock between PCB and players over central contracts ends
The contracts run from July 15 this year to June 16, 2016. If Afridi and Misbah stick to their retirement plans, they might cause the board a few headaches.
In the past, player retirements have turned contentious due to contractual disagreements, with players asking for a full payout on retirement. The PCB needs to streamline the process for both Misbah and Afridi in order to avoid an ugly confrontation at the time of their respective exits.
On the other hand, the central contracts selection committee — with input from Misbah and bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed — were given the task of formulating the categories and they threw up a few surprises by slotting the out-of-sorts Junaid Khan and discarded off-spinner Saeed Ajmal in Category B.
Junaid has looked increasingly pedestrian since his return to top-flight cricket following a hamstring injury that ruled him out of the World Cup. He was left out of the ODI and T20 series against Sri Lanka as a result.
Ajmal is simply half the bowler he once was after being forced to remodel his bowling action. He had an ordinary season in four-day cricket for Worcestershire, while earlier in the year he was taken apart in the National T20 in Faisalabad.
Chief selector Haroon Rasheed feels that the 37-year-old Ajmal has a role to play in limited overs cricket, especially since the Greenshirts lack a frontline off-spinner.
Realistically though, Ajmal’s return would be nothing short of a minor miracle, considering the emergence of Yasir Shah, all-rounder Imad Wasim and the control offered by part-timer Malik since his international comeback.
Haris Sohail has also bowled regularly in the middle-overs in ODI cricket and can be expected to return to the bowling crease as soon as he overcomes his niggling ankle injury.
Read: Cha-ching: Players set to earn more in new central contracts
The decision to retain Ajmal in a high category is simply perplexing, especially since fellow left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar and pacer Mohammad Irfan are slotted below Ajmal, in Category D and C respectively, despite being regular part of the team in different formats.
Fawad Alam is another surprise inclusion in Category C. The left-handed batsman lost his ODI berth after performing poorly in the 3-0 whitewash against Bangladesh.
With the emergence of Imad, Mohammad Rizwan, Sohail and Sohaib Maqsood and the sustained form of Malik, Fawad’s return to the international fold in the next season is unlikely.
The middle-order batsman’s best bet is the outside chance of him replacing Misbah in the Test side’s middle-order once the current captain hangs his gloves.
Umar Amin’s presence in Category D is also nothing short of a shocker. The left-handed batsman has apparently been rewarded for a century and a 99-run knock during the four-day games on the A tour to Sri Lanka.
The Rawalpindi batsman has struggled woefully at the highest level despite being awarded several opportunities to cement a place for himself in the middle-order.
Amin hasn’t played for Pakistan since the ODI series against Australia in the UAE last October. Conversely, T20 regular Sohail Tanvir — without a contract for almost three years — was once again left high and dry despite being adjudged man-of-the-match in the first T20 against Sri Lanka. A similar fate befell Sialkot opener Mukhtar Ahmed who was awarded the man of the series against Zimbabwe.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 7th, 2015.
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